TAMRA DAVIS

In 'Billy Madison,' I worked with Adam before anyone really knew he was Adam Sandler.

It's hard to have people talking about you and trashing you in the media and saying they think your career is over... and you are only 25.

How do you make it to the top when all you have is ambition and talent? You believe in yourself and surround yourself with other idealistic and talented friends that fuel each other and push against the establishment to take you seriously.

I understand that in some families both parents have to work, so the kids are home alone eating more processed foods. But if the kids know how to make oatmeal or eggs in the morning or pasta or a lentil soup at night - we're giving them real survival tools.

Getting four people awake, fed, dressed, and out the door on time is a challenge. Add to that making a school lunch, and you can tilt over the edge. Unless you are well prepared and have a simple method to follow.

Many of the stranger but most frequently quoted scenes in 'Billy Madison' were unplanned.

Helping out in your kid's classroom is a great way to get involved with your child's school.

It felt amazing to be one of a handful working female directors in Hollywood.

I do have a priority in my house, and that is I want my kids to be healthy, and if I give them the right food, I am headed consistently toward that goal.

I am so inspired by new media.

I always had to genuinely like the actors I worked with and use my enthusiasm and vision to give them confidence to push their creativity and their humor.

I discovered television is a great way to deal with the chaos of new motherhood. I would put the babies to bed and get lost in a trashy reality show.

A diet that is high in fat, sugar and salt makes it really hard for a body to function efficiently.

My connection with Basquiat was really in Los Angeles, which really was a whole different world to what he was experiencing in New York.

It's incredible what happens when you explain to kids what good food is - they get so excited! They go home and tell their parents... and they're excited to cook the recipes themselves in class.

If you think you are a filmmaker... make a film, and then show it. You need to be able to finish what you started so it is presentable. When you screen it and see if your film has an effect on an audience, you will understand what it means to be a filmmaker.

Music video played a huge role in developing my sensibility as a director.

A mom can't afford to be sick.

I came up with this statistic that if a kid makes something himself, he's 90 to 95% likely to try it. And of course, then, if it's good, he'll eat it!

Basquiat will continue to show us new things about who we are and why he was so important.

I started making music videos in my twenties and made my first feature, 'Guncrazy,' at 29. I then spent the greater part of my thirties directing features.

I have a great little camera, and I had a theory that if the story is interesting, it doesn't matter what medium you shoot it on. You just have to make a good film.

What's so fun when you shoot in a car is you get to research all the other road movies that have ever been done, and you try to figure out where do they place the cameras and how many shots can you get with your people in the car. So just doing the research on the films is so fun.

In 1983, I was working at an art gallery in Los Angeles and going to film school at Los Angeles City College. At that time, Jean-Michel Basquiat was a young painter and was visiting L.A. for his first show at the Larry Gagosian Gallery.

There's no continuity in videos... you can jump around all over the place. In features, you can't throw in a close-up of a musician stomping on a guitar - you have to film a scene.