Leo Burnett Quotes

I have learned that you can't have good advertising without a good client, that you can't keep a good client without good advertising, and no client will ever buy better advertising than he understands or has an appetite for.

As a director, I never feel that I have the answers.

Because over and over again, the times that I've done really good things is because I've had a wonderful client of some kind, and a lot of it depended on me to induce them to be creative.

He just kind of talks them through, and then I get the fun part cause I get to make up the stories.

A good director's not sure when he gets on the set what he's going to do.

The writing is really hard. You're alone. It really pulls it out of you. You pull it out of your head. But when you're a director, you're shopping - you're picking this actor, you're picking this scene. It's like the most intense kinetic high-speed shopping of all time. You sit in a chair and it will all come rushing at you like a wind tunnel.

Every director works differently.

It can't be stressed enough that in order to produce great graphics, you have to have a good product and a good client capable of making decisions.

The environment in a writer's room, I've really come to feel, should be some form of democracy.

So yeah, a good director will be able to listen and hear everything, but have a confident vision of his own that he can say, 'oh yeah - that's a great point.' And you never know; often you can help far more than you think you can, because there's so much more that he's juggling than an actor.

I think it's always good for the author to stay a good cattle prod's distance from the actual moviemaking.

When you're a producer and an artist you're very critical of yourself. I like to produce other people, but I'm not that good at producing myself.

My job is to make images and leave the decision-making and conclusion-drawing to other people.

There are things that I would avoid, so I have the choice to say no, when I feel I'm repeating myself too much. But then there could be a reason to do that with a good director. So I think actors have to have a loose philosophy.

I always say to young people when they ask me how I work, I always say to them, the only time you've ever going to do something good is if you have a good client. And by good I mean all kinds of things.

There's always a question of duration, there's a question of who the orchestra is. No one is free to write what you want - you collaborate on a film score, and one of the good things is that someone else's work is motivating you.

I don't even know what a traditional producer is or does. I feel like the job is like being a coach, building good work habits and building trust. You want to get to a point where you can say anything and talk about anything. There needs to be a real connection.

To be a good director, you have to have good life experience. I'm getting there.

In most cases, I think most executive producers and studio executives really do their best to accommodate you. At least, that's been my experience in most cases.

If I wanted to have total control and be a dictator, I would do ice sculpture in my basement. If I want to make a movie, I'm going to work with 500 people, and I will have to work with their strength and their weakness.

To be honest, more than what I prepare, it's the directors who do the bulk of the work, researching, collecting data and all that. I like to see myself as a processor: they feed me with the data, I give the output.

I can only go with my gut and say what I would like to do, and then my producer comes in and makes it happen.

I'd never thought of directing as an option for me. I don't know why, because I'm incredibly bossy. I was surprised how collaborative it is. As the producer, you have to get the money and schedule on time, and that's not what I do best.

A producer has to want you. And if the producer trusts you and asks for your vision, it frees you up so much, not having to explain or fight for every decision. You're allowed to create.

Whatever you do, whatever you come up with, whatever you decide on, you can go with it, and if the director or the execs, they like it, then you'll stick with it. That's a good thing, as opposed to having something that's already written.