Joel Siegel Quotes

Everything starts with writing. And then to support your vision, your ideas, your philosophy, your jokes, whatever, you've gotta perform them and/or direct them, or sometimes just produce them.

As a director or writer, you have to be so controlling.

A director's job is to make something happen and it doesn't happen by itself. So you wheedle, you cajole, you flatter people, you tell them what needs to be done. And if you don't bring a passion and an intensity to it, you shouldn't be doing it.

Becoming artistic directors is an enormous responsibility and not one that we take lightly.

If you have a vision or if you believe the director has a vision, then at least you've got something to talk about, something to try and head to and I think that's mandatory for every director to have to do a good job.

The director is the captain of the ship, without question. No matter what their talent or energy level is, everyone on the crew has all eyes on the captain. If they come in going, "I don't know. Maybe we'll do this. Maybe we'll do that," you've got 10 days to shoot and they don't care what you're doing.

You need these experiences. Just know that sometimes, the director has a specific look in mind.

I think what makes a good actor's director is somebody who understands what I'm doing and is respectful of it, but who also has a vision and is directing me toward their vision in a way that feels productive.

A director without a vision is a catastrophe.

Directing is much more satisfying to me than acting.

I couldn't be a cameraman or a designer or an actor - I have to be a director because I learned how to do that from my dad.

Good directors say, Here's where the play is. They stand by the heart of the matter. Some of them stand beside it.

I think there's a tendency with actor/directors to imagine themselves playing every part and trying to get people to follow their rhythm, their tempo, their pace. I've learned now to just love being at the center of this creative swirl.

I don't have a director's mind.

For me, the director is the most important thing. He is steering the boat. If you don't trust him, you won't be able to give him your all.

If a director is really a director, I think he's interested in more than one thing.

I've liked all the directors I've worked with a lot. And the ones I like best are the ones that have really good taste about what take was best.

If a director can't figure out what they might get from me or whether he or she wants to work with me based on what I've done, then I can't tell them anything more than what they don't know already.

I never wanted to be a creative director.

I view myself still as a director. That's what I do.

I think one of the biggest jobs of being a director is getting the casting right.

I would say that the energy on set is always the energy of the director because he's the boss.

I didn't want to just be making music randomly and not have any direction.

A lot of people don't know this about Wu-Tang, it started from a focused mind. I was given total autonomy to do whatever I want with them... They agreed, to me, to be a dictator for five years. And in those five years, it's considered some of our best work.

Every director has a sensibility and style, and what works is his originality and conviction.