WILL PACKER

I'm excited about my own network, BounceTV. It's the first African-American-owned broadcast network. It's myself, my partner Rob Hardy, and some other African-American businessmen, including Andrew Young and Martin Luther King III.

I really feel like the sky is the limit. I'm a dreamer, and I dream in full vivid color HD.

There's nothing more important than having a personal connection with your audience.

I definitely want make an impact in television. I want to make a continued and greater impact in feature films, and I want to be somebody who continues to be at the forefront of creating a wide variety of content that I could be proud of and that engages people on all levels.

We need more filmmakers of color telling the story. I'd like to see more filmmakers take their products out independently, put together a good commercial film and distribute it online.

I had no intention of being a film producer, and I knew I wasn't passionate about engineering. I was always set on having my own business, controlling my own destiny.

I'm always going to go up against movies with bigger muscle and money, so I need to have a strong grass-roots game.

When you come into the industry as an outsider, you need to have an entrepreneurial spirit to succeed. In Hollywood, it's very clear that you either play by the rules or make up your own. And I wanted to do it my way.

When I was a kid, my parents never let me use race as an excuse. They'd say, 'When you walk into a room and it's all white, those kids have to work to stand out, not you.'

When people have options for what they want to see, it forces the quality of programming and content to be higher.

People that I know, the vast majority, who are successful work really, really hard. Sure, there's some people that either get lucky or inherited it or don't have to work hard for some reason, but the vast majority who are successful work really, really hard.

I think the country needs a good laugh. There are so many things dividing us right now, in the real world, that the timing is right for escapist entertainment that makes you feel better about your own family. If this family can survive, than everyone has got a chance.

You want people to go see it by the hoards. And for there to be talk of the possibility of continuing the journey and the ride, if you will, with these characters that we spent so much time honing, and executing this film on all levels, is super exciting.

I've never been in the position where that conversation is a serious conversation before the movie even comes out. On one side of it, that's so great because you've got such great potential. The other side of that is that there's a level of pressure. Now, that clearly means that there's an expectation level, from the studio side, potentially from the audience's side, and from our side.

It's always better if you can keep the bar low, and then exceed the expectation. When it's high, that makes the job even tougher. But, I think we're up for the challenge. We're ready.

Obviously, my stuff has been more in the comedy realm, and I really believe that if I'm laughing behind the camera, then I think the film will be funnier.

In real life, holidays are extremely stressful. They're the best of times and worst of times because you have got people trying to get along with people that you don't always get along with.

I've learned that if you can keep it calm and keep it fun and loose, then that allows for ideas from the crew. I don't care where an idea comes from, whether it's the crew or my producer or the actors or anybody. I just want it to be fun, and if that's the case, then I think you make a better movie.

For me, I look at a project that has a story that's going to resonate in some way. It doesn't have to be about a message. It doesn't have to have some underlying theme of overwhelming importance.

It's tough to get any movie made, but unless it's a movie about race or culture or ethnicity, it's becoming less and less important who's playing what. You see that on the big screen and the small screen, and I think that's great. That's exciting.

I never want someone to come out of one of my films and say, "Damn. I wasted an hour and a half of my life." I'm trying to avoid that.

I'm looking for films that can resonate and hopefully have some level of critical importance but also have commercial viability and can put butts in seats. At the end of the day, that is the name of the game. And if you can find that perfect balance, then that's the sweet spot.

My philosophy is making a movie is difficult enough and I just feel as if you should have a really good time when you do make films whether it's a drama or a comedy.

I think that America is more diverse than ever before, and is continuing to become more diverse, and our content should and is reflecting that.

It's exciting to me that Ride Along is a movie that has two African American leads, but it's even more exciting to me that it's not a movie about two African American leads. They just happen to be African American. It's a universal story. It's a story about a guy in love with a girl, and he's gotta get the approval of the overbearing, mean brother. That's a universal theme.