Teyonah Parris Quotes

I try to always work with the same hair and makeup people, so they're my friends, and that makes the process so much more fun.

The worst thing when you're working is to say, 'I have a question,' and the other person goes, 'No! This is what it is.' That kind of rigidity is very challenging because musicals are constantly mutating.

I tend to get hired because the filmmakers like what I do, so there's usually not that much conflict about the direction.

I'm literally am home making my own music unless I'm asked to be in somebody's house writing music for them.

I really preferred the characters I could totally create by myself, because I always think of myself as an actor first.

I didn't have any bridesmaids. Instead, one friend did my hair, another did my makeup, and a third loaned me her shimmering Jimmy Choo wedges!

Being in a group, you don't really get to give an ounce of who you are as a solo artist.

I don't want the baggage of knowing things when I walk on to a set. I am more comfortable being an empty slate, surrendering before a director and writer's vision. I've realised that this is the best way for me to function.

Me and Thugger could make nine songs in a day and then choose which songs we like the most and think is gonna do something. With other people, it's like, we pick one song, and we hope it's the one.

A lot of my stuff just wasn't saleable. I still don't do private or corporate commissions. It becomes like interior design. I don't enjoy it. The process makes me feel physically sick.

My job is really to... everyone is reading the script, and my job is to make sure we all interpret it in as much the same way as possible. And then I give them the freedom to sort of - to get their performance across and then make suggestions where things are not working and accentuate and push things where they really are working.

As a freelance artist, you have to please somebody instead of just making music. But when the employer trusts and leans on you to determine what is right for a scene or feeling, that's ideal.

I just make music that I love. I'm kind of selfish when I make music. I'm like, 'Do I like this?'

The key is you don't want to control the controlled stuff too much and you don't want to be too free flowing in uncontrolled situations. That can be a contentious issue with some directors. The joy of my career is I've gotten to work with great directors who get that balance.

I am not so bad, actually, at doing my own makeup, so for more low-key events, I'll do my own, but for something like 'Harper's Bazaar' Icons Party, I would definitely get a makeup artist or a hair artist if I had time.

You get the initial script, and then things sort of change here and there, but the whole thing is this sort of mushy collaboration, which I love.

The way it works in commercials is they come to you with the script, and then you do the visual, you do the storyboards, and you give your vision of it, but it's very much their baby. You just kind of put your polish and sheen on it and your interpretation of it, but it's very much the agency's idea.

As a screenwriter, you always have frustrations. It's just the nature of the job, and you have to live with it. Your vision is not going to be the same as the director's vision. It doesn't mean one is better or worse; it means they're different.

Young directors are a delight to work with. With no preconceived notions, they provide enough creative fodder for actors.

I like working with directors I respect, who give me freedom but also give me a good base from which to work.

My hope has always been that each record could have its own audience. Of course, it's awesome to have a cumulative audience for more than one record, but I like the idea that there could be a record that an individual might like.

There's a rhythm to script [ in "I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore"], as well, especially the pacing of it. But there definitely were times when I would say something and [ Macon Blair] would say, "I didn't think to deliver it like that" or, "I didn't think it had that meaning." And he'd say, "I like it. I think it's good." So he's open. He's not battering it into you.

I know how to write. So I am not totally at the mercy of filmmakers, but it's not a bad point.

I don't like to work in an office. I like to work in my house, to be among my own thoughts. The idea is for an editor to let his artist alone, let them be themselves, let them exchange their own ideas and you'll come up with something salable.

There is a mysterious stillness and intimacy of a woman doing her hair and make-up which attracts me.