The Best Quotes by Famous Filmmakers

I am a big fan of quotes. Especially quotes that come from successful men and women that I both admire and respect. What I find beautiful about quotes is how they offer you the opportunity to gain wisdom, inspiration or insight on a topic based on the experience of others.

Here are some quotes about filmmaking. Some are informative, some are encouraging and others are just plain entertaining. Enjoy.

First cuts are a bitch for a director, because it is been so many months and you put your trust in your editor and you're going to see your film assembled for the first time. You look at it and go, This is terrible. I hate it.
Richard Donner

A good director is not sure when he gets on the set what he's going to do.
Elia Kazan

A lot of times you get credit for stuff in your movies you did not intend to be there.
Spike Lee

Casting is 65 percent of directing.
John Frankenheimer

The biggest mistake in student films is that they are usually cast so badly, with friends and people the directors know. Actually you can cover a lot of bad direction with good acting.
Brian De Palma

Cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theater.
Roman Polanski

If somebody has a better idea than me, I will take it if it surpasses what we have on the page because at the end of the day, it is me that takes the credit anyway!
Guy Ritchie

Do not be told something is impossible. There is always a way.
Robert Rodriguez

People say I pay too much attention to the look of a movie but for God's sake, I am not producing a Radio 4 Play for Today, I am making a movie that people are going to look at.
Ridley Scott

In England, I am a horror movie director. In Germany, I am a filmmaker. In the US, I am a bum.
John Carpenter

My three Ps: passion, patience, perseverance. You have to do this if you've got to be a filmmaker.
Robert Wise

There is no reason why challenging themes and engaging stories have to be mutually exclusive - in fact, each can fuel the other. As a filmmaker, I want to entertain people first and foremost. If out of that comes a greater awareness and understanding of a time or a circumstance, then the hope is that change can happen.
Edward Zwick

You can not second-guess yourself as a filmmaker.
Ralph Bakshi

You've got to believe as a filmmaker that if a movie's good enough, it is going to survive; and if it is not, well, it will not.
Sam Mendes

An Oscar means a lot of things because it is like the ultimate award for a filmmaker so it feels great. But I think you have to consider awards with some distance and not get obsessed with it. When you are creating you should not think about it.
Alejandro Amenabar

A typewriter needs only paper; a camera uses film, requires subsidiary equipment by the truckload and Wellington several hundreds of technicians. That is always the central fact about the filmmakers opposed to any other artist: he can never afford his own tools.
Orson Welles

If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed.
Stanley Kubrick

People told me I could not kill Nicholson, so I cast him in two roles and killed him off twice.
Tim Burton

I became quite successful very young, and it was mainly because I was so enthusiastic and I just worked so hard at it.
Francis Ford Coppola

I steal from every movie ever made.
Quentin Tarantino

The best way to advance your film career

Would you like to know the single most important thing you can do to advance your movie career?

Set clear, specific written goals.

Goal setting is something very few people do and is absolutely essential for achieving anything extraordinary throughout your profession, whether working in movies or not. From my own experience I have always had dreams and desires (in my head) of things I wanted to accomplishment in my career but the problem was that they remained just in my head. With my dreams and desires just floating around in my head it became quite easy to be sidetracked, forget or simply give up on achieving anything worthwhile. My struggle and frustration from my lack of progress in my movie career had me searching for answers.

Was success in the movie industry really based on luck? Maybe I was not lucky? Maybe making movies was not my calling? However, everything changed for the better for me once I read a book by Brian Tracy called Goals: How to get everything you want faster than you ever thought possible. I strongly recommend that if you are not currently in the habit on setting goals for yourself and your career to read this book.

Basically, the book details how we as human beings are fully responsible for creating the type of life or career we want and the single best way to guarantee our success is through setting goals. Here are the benefits of setting clear goals for your career:

6. CLARITY:

You will have more CLARITY: You have to know where you want to go to get there. Setting goals requires you to develop clarity. This is the first and most important step to creating a career that you love and want.

5. FOCUS:

You will develop a stronger FOCUS: Whatever you focus on your get more of: if you have clear goals and focus on them, you will get more of what you DO want (your goals) and less of what you don't want.

4. EFFICIENCY:

When you get clear about where you want to go, you set up steps and actions to get there. This increases your efficiency because you are working on what is really important. When you work on what is important, you will accomplish more than you ever expected.

3. DREAMS

You will get what you really want in life, rather than settling for whatever comes you way.

2. INCREASED SELF-CONFIDENCE

As you set and reach your goals, you become more confident in your ability to do what you say and get what you want in life. Success breeds more successes.
And the number 1 benefit of setting goals is:

1. RESULTS

There are numerous studies that prove that less than 3% of people walking on the face of this earth have written goals, and according to research, these people accomplish 80% more than those who do not. That is an astounding difference,
is it not?

Your goal could be as simple:

I finished writing the first draft of my screenplay by July 20th, 2009.

Or

I directed my second feature film by October 10th, 2009.

I know for a fact that since I started setting career goals for myself starting back in 2008 that I have achieved more in my film career within the past 12 months then I have in the previous four years combined without having any writing goals.

What about you? Are you happy with the progress or stage your career is in? Do you want more or feel you have the talent, drive or ambition to accomplish more?

Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals

Aristotle

How to find work in the film and television industry

Working in the film and television industry is without a doubt the most exciting and rewarding career I have ever had.

I always feel proud when people ask me what do I do and I reply I am a film producer.
But that proud feeling was not always there for me in the beginning. I remember the days when I was just starting off looking to work in the entertainment industry and however frustrated and overwhelmed I felt about attempting to make it the industry. People would constantly tell me this is tough business to get into or it is all about who you know. Now I agree there is some true to these statements, however, from my five years so far of industry experience the biggest stumbling block for those looking to transition into the industry is LACK OF THE RIGHT INFORMATION.

Once you have the right information, everything in life becomes easier. So this article will give you some of the right information you might need to find work within the film and television industry. These websites are not in any particular order but just good solid sources for emerging filmmakers to build your work experience and skills.

4. Mandy.com (International)

Mandy.com has been around since 1995 and was the first database of film/TV technicians and facilities on the web. The site offers a wide variety of services and resources for film industry people all around the world like:

A) Yellow pages of technicians and facilities. Search for "Sound recordists in
Scotland", "Camera rental in South-West USA", or "Producers in Asia Pacific specializing in TV Documentaries".

B) Casting calls searchable by actor age and ethnicity.

C) Search for current job vacancies in film / TV production in your area.

D) Buy/Sell your production equipment.

E) Database of Films and TV Programs for sale. It assists independent producers find niche sales in our fragmenting marketplace.

Once you have your resume on file with mandy.com it is quite easy to search and apply for both paying and non-paying work.

3. Variety The Biz (Canada & U.S.)

This website reminds me of workpolis.com but for the entertainment industry. Again once you have setup a profile and uploaded your resume, searching and applying for work becomes quite easy. I find that the majority of the jobs advertised on this site are more office/internship type of positions with very little to no on-set production work. However, if the office/internship type work is something that interests you. Then you should check out the Variety career site.

2. EntertainmentCareers.net (U.S. only)

This site provides job seekers with hundreds of entertainment jobs and internships opportunities. The positions available range from associate producer to audio engineer. From a non-paying gaffer position to part time receptionist and everything in between. If you live or plan to live in the LA or NY area, this is a great resource for seeking a wide variety of entertainment industry jobs. Another cool thing about this site is the several of the big Hollywood studios, TV networks and production companies post job openings here.

1.Craigslist.org (International)

Thank God for craigslist. I am sure a lot of us have benefited one way or another from using craigslist. Just in case you have not heard of or used craigslist, it has free online classified advertisements with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, resumes, and discussion forums. It serves 570 cities in 50 countries. Once you go on the site and find the city/area that interests you, search the following sections for film/TV jobs:

1. TV/film/video
2. crew
3. writing
4. talent

It might take you sometime to sift through all the job ads to find the ones the interest you but apart from that craigslist is a great place for newbies and more experienced industry players to find work and build both their resume and skills set.