Paul F. Tompkins Quotes

Part of making art is learning how you make it best. I'm not great at sitting down at a desk and writing for three hours. I write best verbally, talking through an idea with people, so I do my best work when I collaborate.

At the beginning of my career before anything started propelling, I used to blow up everybody. I was trying to work with whoever got next.

There's always somebody you can call and go have lunch with and just talk out an idea. And it's great, because I need that. It's part of my writing process, to early on sit people down and say, 'Alright, this film I'm working on...' and I tell them everything I have.

People sort of imagine Chris Morris and me sitting somewhere dark, with dripping taps and chilling background music. In fact, we like to sit on his roof in the sunshine - and there's an endless amount of just sitting there, going, 'So, erm, er, what shall we do?'

I'm always fascinated by the 'who would you like to work with' question. I've never really had an answer; it only really comes as you work with them.

I think that everything is part of creativity - the more you create, the more you have ideas, and the more you meet people.

I mean, it's amazing that I get to meet all these people. I've learned so much from all of them. I just worked with Sofia Coppola and that was amazing. I learned so much from her. I can't even describe how much fun I had.

The reality is that SXSW is packed with brilliant entrepreneurs, investors and partners. They're everywhere, zipping back and forth like thousands of atoms. Your chances of colliding with one actually improve just by standing still.

Working with a guy like Ice Cube on 'Ride Along,' you learn so much. He's a guy who produces, writes, and directs, so you watch and learn and ask questions. As you go, you learn and figure out what you should and shouldn't do. I do nothing but soak up information.

Sometimes you work with somebody you've never heard of because you just feel like working.

I have a producing partner named Stephen Hamel, and we've been trying to generate material.

Broadcasting is definitely in my cards for the future, and I'm determined to work hard at it - to perfect it and create my style and niche.

I'm still working on my career, still trying to learn from other artistes and develop my skills and my style.

For hard resets, conventions and conferences can be inspiring.

I advise all of the entrepreneurs that I know to attend at least one entrepreneurship event every week. The worst thing an entrepreneur can do is to confine his or herself to a cubby hole.

You can only generate ideas when you put pencil to paper, brush to canvas... when you actually do something physical.

You should be accumulating really great relationships throughout your career.

I do a lot of brainstorming with my editors.

It's definitely team work with my fashion career. The trick is to surround yourself with the best people, those whose opinions you really trust and value.

I carry around a black leather Moleskine journal all the time. And I always write ideas down, especially when I'm on set and working with actors like Jeremy Irons and Viola Davis and learning from them.

I don't do a lot of strategizing, career-wise. I was approached by Chris and Phil, the guys who did 'The Lego Movie.' They gave me my first job on 'Clone High.' We've been friends forever, and they asked me if I wanted to write something with them.

Early on, I knew I had ideas, but I wasn't sure when it was appropriate to bring them to the table, and I was so intimidated by these titans that I was working for. But it started around the time of 'Tron,' when I was really excited by the creative process and the prep that went into that. I spoke up often at those writing sessions.

I'm always eager to work with people I admire, people who have experience, who've made mistakes and made great things. That's the greatest teaching I could ever get in developing my own career.

At least for me, any time I've been in hotbeds of creativity, I got excited about something that wasn't coming from me.

The truth of the matter is coming up with a title is one of the most challenging things we do.