Film Financing Quotes

Now it really is, believe it or not, 90% of the films are green lit, not by the studio heads, but by the marketing department.

The film industry sees the writer as fungible: The thinking goes, As long as we have Brad Pitt and all this money, we have a great film! No, you need a writer with voice and an engaging story, or what you have is a bomb.

The film business has changed hugely. You seem to spend about 30 per cent of the time producing the films and 70 per cent talking about it.

I've never felt that my job was difficult because I'm a woman. It's a difficult job regardless, and it's even more difficult in Lebanon because there's no film industry. There's no structure, funding, or institutions for filmmakers.

When I was out promoting 'Selma,' I became aware of so many other films that ought to be getting distribution. And this is a problem I can do something about because of my experience.

It is great to be a part of big-budget movies, but it is harder to feel like you are contributing, in the sense that it has such big machinery behind it.

I want to direct a feature film. Horror is my main genre.

New Zealand was kind of getting a reputation for making middle-of-the-road films that weren't really that unique. They were kind of New Zealand versions of overseas films, and for sure, having an Oscar nomination totally helped me get funding.

I don't think you can name a good picture where the production or the possible promotion isn't "cast-contingent." That means the film needs not just star power but star box office power.

It's too expensive, that's the thing nobody wants to talk about. It is too expensive to make movies. That's not true, it is too expensive to market movies. Making movies is not.

It was a different time in the 1970s. Movies didn't have to make as much money.

Filmmaking is a very complex form - ya know, acting, lighting, screenwriting, storytelling, music, editing - all these things have to come together.

I was in a very lucky position to be able to consider studio films and had decided to not go that route for a very long time until I read a script that I loved called 'Aeon Flux.'

For 'Filth,' we had about 12 producers on the thing. The opening credits go on for months. Most of them are actually financers rather than producers. And the only way that we could raise the budget without interference from a studio was to have a lot of different financers on board.

Well, we are not doing that film actually. At least I am not at the moment, but we are making an effort to get it done; I don't know whether we'll get the financing for it. The old story we had it, it fell out of place and this and that.

The film is not a success until it makes money. It's only good when there's a dollar figure attached to the box office.

Movie-making is the process of turning money into light. All they have at the end of the day is images flickering on a wall.

When you work in film, you learn to appreciate a distributor. You can have this great little film, but if you don't have a distributor, you are sitting in your living room with a great little film.

I have been working on one film at a time. One film recovers a little cost and that helps me move on to the next one.

In feature film world I'm very much...a hired hand. It's a world of Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Mel Gibson - they're able to produce and to star and it's, that's not my world.

I love the art form, but working in film can be a disheartening experience.

There's no big budget Canadian movie. Whatever movies are big budget in Canada come from the States. Or also have States financing. Everything's pretty small.

It is not like casting me in your movie is going to help you get financing.

I want to write a studio movie, but probably one that's for me to be in.

Jokes apart, people are constantly asking me, 'What are you doing for the industry?' When one makes a blockbuster, you plough back money into the industry. If my film makes 100 crore, I'm not taking the entire sum home! It gets distributed between the exhibitors, distributors, producers and actors.