D. J. MacHale Quotes

Directing was easy for me because I was a writer director and did all my directing when I wrote the screenplay.

I discovered that, in order to write a magnificent piece, you should shoot the images because once you are filming, you are writing the script in your mind.

When I write a screenplay, and when I direct, I always pull lines out.

Technically, maybe I learned most of all from George Stevens, and among his movies I learned the most from 'A Place in the Sun.' It's a lesson in moviemaking.

I think the worst that can happen in filmmaking is if you're working with a storyboard. That kills all intuition, all fantasy, all creativity.

I have always believed that directing a film is like telling a story. You have to tell it well so that it is appreciated.

You ought to have a perspective when you're making a film.

I feel like I'm a filmmaker; I don't feel I need to yell action and cut.

I still want to direct. That's my main love, and that comes from being obsessed with subtleties and people.

My father was a director and producer, so when I was a little kid, he would take me to movies and show me what's good and what's not good and why, and often that would take me to a conversation about directing.

As the director of a film, as the story teller, you have to keep your voice alive.

For me, writing is a part of directing. It's the first stage of directing.

When you are scripting, the scene, the dialogues, everything comes before you, taking final shape. That is truly the most creative aspect of filmmaking and that is what I enjoy the most.

To make a great film you need three things - the script, the script and the script.

Directing is a tremendous art.

For a lot of my childhood, I didn't want to direct movies because I didn't really know what directing was.

Anybody can direct a picture once they know the fundamentals. Directing is not a mystery, it's not an art. The main thing about directing is: photograph the people's eyes.

Being a good television screenwriter requires an understanding of the way film accelerates the communication of words.

Most screenplays depend primarily on the vision of a director.

I think you cannot make films without choosing everything.

I think I'm drawn to films more as a director with a directorial mind even as an actor. I make movies to make the films, not to act.

I have considered the directing, actually. Not so much the writing. That is not really interesting, but the directing is really interesting to me.

I think film, to me, as a director, is about telling a story.

For a director, the most challenging scenes are the dialogue scenes.

I teach film directing, inasmuch as you can. It's not really possible to teach film direction, but I sit there as a sort of testimony of experience and know-how, I suppose.