Chris Meledandri Quotes

We try to keep audiences coming back in greater numbers by doing the unexpected and not simply following a pattern or a mold or a formula.

I really like it when you can step outside of what's come before and find a surprise for the reader and find a surprise for yourself.

I always say that it's about breaking the rules. But the secret of breaking rules in a way that works is understanding what the rules are in the first place.

I feel the best way to respect my audience is to not give them what they expect from me... 'cause it's fun that way.

I don't want to limit myself to any genre or language or a type. I want to always surprise the audience and, hence, keep raising the bar for myself.

I tell the actors that the biggest gift they can give me is to fail. And that the second gift they can give me is to surprise me.

I never imagined myself doing a one-man show. If I'm going to do one, I'd rather do one that breaks all the rules.

When you're really having fun, you're always doing it a little bit in a way that you're not supposed to. That's when great things happen.

For a writer, you definitely do not want to be in the mainstream. You want to be on the edge because that's where the vantage point is. That's where you can see.

I am not doing comedy because the genre is successful. If that was the case, I would have done a run-of-the-mill comedy film. I set my own trends. I like to give something new and different to my audiences. I want to do the kind of comedy that has been missing till now.

I want to do everything I can possibly do to step outside the box.

I'm an artist, and I like the risk - I'm not in it for the sure things.

There has to be an element of risk-taking for me in my work.

Most great entrepreneurs I know are nothing like the other kids. They're almost like tangent lines - those lines that seem to go nowhere. Nothing connects them, until they get out in the real world. Then they connect just fine.

A lot of producers and creative types want to see you be you. Throw something else out there and show them where you would take this part. A lot of them are launching shows for the first time, so they've got a lot riding on this, too, and they want you to be their flight.

Being an entrepreneur means the ability to think out of the box by putting away our fear of any risk, including financial.

I want to surprise people and do different things and maybe do something that's not quite financially rewarding.

If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.

I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you're going to innovate.

I just know that it's smart for my career to carve my own path and do my own thing.

You get inspiration from craziest places. It's just about being creative. You gotta step outside that box, you know what I'm saying, to reach the people. You never know who can feel it; who it can connect to.

You have to keep surprising your audience.

When you look at every studio in the '20s or '30s, from Louis B. Mayer to Jack Warner, you see people who started with one plan and quickly shifted gears to adapt to a changing world. One of my favorite stories is that Walt Disney mortgaged his house to make 'Snow White.' He saw there was a real opportunity to change the world.

I love to get to that place where I don't know what kind of music I'm doing; I don't know if it's any good. I don't know if it's anything. It's a big question mark. The idea is to have interesting results. That's my bottom line.

What guides me is to do work that's more avant-garde - things that I think are special. You can easily become a celebrity and get caught up in all that blur. I just want to work and surprise myself.