Karen Allen Quotes

When I went to Sundance back in 1998, indie film was all the rage, and Miramax was throwing down five or six million dollars for several films each year. Those were the salad days of indie film, and those days are over. I'm not out there worrying too much about it.

My partner, Beth Alexander, and I want to produce smaller films, but commercially viable films that will enable me to make the kinds of movies I want to make.

I've made a number of independent films that didn't receive theatrical distribution, that a lot of people haven't heard of, and as a result, I've conditioned myself to go into small independent films with the expectation that they will not, and therefore, I have to find my reward elsewhere.

I like the intimacy of independent films and I like the idea that people aren't being paid necessarily as much money as some one on a studio film.

Independent film is almost nonexistent right now, because all the distributers that used to love to put out these little art films are all out of business right now, because it costs so much to open a movie.

It just seems like that because I do a lot of independent films that don't get to the mainstream.

I personally like to do independent films.

A film like 'Good Night And Good Luck,' you make that for $7 million because you know it's a black-and-white film, and it's not an easy sell. If you make it for $7 million, then everybody can have a chance to make a little bit of money, and you get to make the film you want to make.

It seems that the small movies are a little more risky and cutting-edge. You've got your big commerce and you've got your small films that you're more passionate about.

The gritty indie films are a lot rarer than the films that aspire to fill multiplexes.

Unless it's something very clever like 'Memento,' most independent films have a very tough life out there.

I can make a movie for $5M, which used to be a routinely low, independent movie, but there's no such thing as that any more.

I think of myself as making independent films within the studio system. Yes, I've made movies with significantly larger budgets, and I've also made movies with smaller budgets.

I don't think of the 'indie film world' as this cohesive kind of world anyhow. It's so disparate: all these different filmmakers seeking financing from many different sources to make different kinds of movies. It's hard to pinpoint a trend, really.

You know, independent films have been institutionalized, practically. Every studio has got a boutique arthouse label. There's like, 18 different independent film-financing funds. In fact, I think the children of those films are getting made. A more interesting question is whether those films are going to get seen and appreciated.

I think the art film, or the auteur-driven film - and not only foreign, but domestic films following that path - can get a small share of the box office. And I think that small share may open up a little bit.

I was still making movies so it wasn't as if I were working in a bar, but they were independent films that couldn't find distributors.

It's very difficult to break into motion pictures, but it's oddly easier for directors today because of independent films and cable, who have inherited for the most part those films of substance that the studios are reluctant to finance.

I've done so many independent movies I'm sure no one will ever see, but I've loved the work.

Now while the German money is over for Hollywood, I still have $80 million to make movies, and we will have two things coming up: less major movies and the price for actors will go down.

As long as there's really good actors that use their clout to support fringe films, whatever genre it is, they'll still get made.

I'm excited that 'The Good Guy' is getting distribution because indie movies they're not - people ran out of money and they're not making these movies anymore. It's all superhero movies or real obvious tent pole studio films.

When a film like Chris Nolan's Memento cannot get picked up, to me independent film is over. It's dead.

A novelty in Polish filmmaking was that it was possible to find funds for a big production. However, at the same time, the state budget committed less and less money to filmmaking.

Independent films in this country are in the same position. Miramax and Fine Line are not independent - they're with Disney! Come on. Or they're with Warner Brothers. They're all with somebody.