Paul S. Kemp Quotes

There are obviously people who want to be very niche, but I think for the most part everybody is trying to reach a larger audience.

I've passed on a lot of huge-money jobs. Money doesn't enter into the decision-making. If I do a big blockbuster, it's about how big an audience you'll get and where you can take them.

One of my comics is read by more people - around 70,000 - than will see my entire run at Manhattan Theater Club. That puts things in perspective.

I wanted to make a film as an artist, and it's going to have to find an audience, you know. I don't know how big the audience will be.

But as long as you're creating the art you want to create, if people start liking you, you shouldn't have to apologize. You want your stuff to be heard by as many people as possible.

The thing with film is that it's so wide-reaching compared to comedy. When I release my comedy special, half a million people will see it. If I release a movie, five to ten million people will see it.

The difference is slight, to the influence of an author, whether he is read by five hundred readers, or by five hundred thousand; if he can select the five hundred, he reaches the five hundred thousand.

It would be awesome to stay popular, but if I was only an underground artist, I would be okay with that.

I always tell younger filmmakers, it's not just about the acting or the art itself. It's about how big of an audience watches your film.

You can make a feature that makes millions but only so many people see it. With a hit TV show, every week you'll have 16 million - 20 million people watching you.

If something is successful with the audience, it's automatically suspect; the reverse is to say that not to reach audiences is the greatest compliment an artist can receive!

Not every show needs to reach the same size of audience, or same width, of a 'Sopranos'.

I think 'Shameless' is more of an everyman's show, whereas as great as I think 'Girls' is, it's got a smaller audience.

Independent films have a certain freedom about them - there isn't so much at stake in terms of money. I think they're more interesting because they're not watered down to appeal to the masses. They tend to have a unique voice.

For songs to be big, I don't think there's a certain formula to it.

Obviously, I would like to play to bigger audiences and have a bit more success, but not if I have to commercialize.

I have absolutley no limits on what I intent to create.

Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, who so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility.

I don't want to become an ivory tower filmmaker. That sounds peculiar, but I want to be a mainstream filmmaker. I want the largest possible audience that I can find - but, of course, on my terms.

I have done films where we all thought the director didn't know what he was doing and it is going to be a gobble gobble turkey. And you go and watch it and it is great.

You can do anything your heart can imagine.

With 300 million people in America, you can fail to impress 299 million of them and still go platinum.

Everybody wants a big crowd. You get amazed sometimes with certain things that millions of people are watching and you go, "Serious?! Really?!" And then, there are things that you really, really enjoy and not a lot of people are watching. It's very, very hard to predict how it works.

I think commercial success is really important. It means there are more people listening, and you're affecting the zeitgeist more. If only a hundred people know you exist, it's harder to get your message across.

The future has no shelf life