Freddie Wong Quotes

It's great to make strong, powerful films, but in terms of people wanting to finance them, it's also very difficult.

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.

If studios don't get their money back, we don't have any movies. So it is important that films are successful, and I am fully supportive of that because I'm not just a director, I'm also not stupid. I've been in this business long enough and, to a certain extent, I'm a businessman; I know the importance of that.

If you look at film, distribution is pre-bought. If you've paid for the distribution, you say, 'I have to make sure it's a film that gets enough butts in the seats.' I think that's the problem: It becomes prohibitively expensive, and you can't develop films for a smaller amount of money.

For the most part, studio movies have huge budgets. They don't do anything under 30 to 40 million. When you have that much money at stake, you have so many people breathing down your neck.

Nowadays, to get a movie greenlit, you have to make an incredible effort.

The financing of my films has always been international.

The first time I did a big American film, I was surprised by all the different financiers who came to the set and told the director what to do.

I have been working on one film at a time. One film recovers a little cost and that helps me move on to the next one.

At the end of the day, there is a lot of money that gets put into films.

The biggest thing I learned is directors don't make a lot of money on a movie.

As long as your movies don't lose money, you'll always be able to make them.

If we got $100 million dollars to make a movie, I don't know if we should be making a $100 million dollar movie our first time out.

It's just hard to get an independent film made.

Producing is making films without having to work sometimes. It's still making films, but it's a different job.

When a movie is about to come out on its initial debut, there are a lot of people involved - the financiers, the studio and the producers and also, many times, the foreign distributors. So it is a time of tremendous pressure and uncertainty.

I don't know the figures, but Hollywood must buy 100 rights for every movie that actually gets made.

If you want your film to be instantly green-lit, your first approach is not to go to a relatively unknown English actor. They're not going to throw millions of dollars at you for that.

The studio system reminds me of the stock market.

I don't think I'll ever be a producer who's into taking the meetings and fighting the big fights with studios. I really don't like that part. I'm much more interested in the material.

Market forces impose certain rules before a film can actually get made.

Now it really is, believe it or not, 90% of the films are green lit, not by the studio heads, but by the marketing department.

The long and short of it is that I am now in a position in England to green light movies, and that's really excellent - not high-budget movies, but movies none the less.

As soon as you're at the higher levels of budgeting, you've got to get the film made, and the only way to support the film is to have actors who can support the budget.

They say now in America that final cut doesn't mean anything. As Harvey Weinstein said to some film-maker, 'You can have final cut. I'll open your film in Arkansas.'