Steve Burns Quotes

You can't predict a show, that is the damndest thing, you can't predict if a show is going to work or not until it's on the air.

I still can't quite believe it. Although there was something about the fact that it was a first-time writer, a first-time producer, and a first-time director all at the same time.

T.V.'s weird because it's both the greatest gig as an actor potentially because it can be all this work for all this time, but there are so many question marks at every stage of the process.

Everything's a risk, by the way, these days. Every film you make is a risk. There's no guarantee.

When I started out, I didn't know if I was ever going to make a movie.

As an actress, nobody is sure these days whether something is going to be successful or not. I tried to always have a good time on set because of that reason. Even if people didn't like it, at least you had a good time.

I know the nature of comedy, and you never know what will happen with the next movie or whether people will find it funny.

You make something, and you really have fun with it, and you try to put emotion in it, and at the end of the day, you have no idea how the tide is going to fall. You don't know if everyone's going to like it, if everyone's going to hate it, if it's going to be like you're a media darling, or all of a sudden you're a sellout. You have no idea.

And in movies you must be a gambler. To produce films is to gamble.

Anytime you make big plans, you have people questioning what you're doing.

The only time I have a good hunch the audience is going to be there is when I make the sequel to 'Jurassic Park' or I make another Indiana Jones movie. I know I've got a good shot at getting an audience on opening night. Everything else that is striking out into new territory is a crap shoot.

It's difficult because nothing's preordained by plan and you can't control it. That's one of those joys and thrills and nerve-racking realities of being an actor. A lot has to do with luck, no matter what your talent or contribution can be.

I've learned that you can never predict what will happen to a film. You can never predict if people will love it, if they'll hate it. It's an act of ego if you're hoping for everyone to love the film and tell you how great you are.

If I die tomorrow, I've done the two hardest things anybody can do in this life with the least amount of security - music and acting - and I've had success in both. I can't really complain. I try not to live my life that way.

Every time you go out there to do something, you wonder if you can do it. There's no assured success. There's no secret recipe for success. Every time you go out there, you go out there with the possibility of great failure.

Making a film, every film, is a big gamble, large or small. The more that you do it, the more you're aware of that.

There is no guaranteed formula. And that's one of the interesting things about filmmaking. You could put $115 million in, and it doesn't guarantee success.

A successful designer must be a gambler.

I didn't want to be the guy who screwed up 'Toy Story.'

Filmmaking, I often like to say, is like Russian roulette. You never know what you'll get. The only thing you can do is find solace in the fact that, irrespective of the film's response, you work hard to make the money you do.

The industry is such - there is no guarantee that a show would work only because it is airing.

I think that's kind of the perfect mix, where you do something that you're not sure about, you feel like you're taking a risk, and then you turn around and look at the artists that you're collaborating with and you can read the expression on their face if they like it or they hate it.

Success and failure are a part of filmmaking.

I had no idea if 'No Roots' was going to work or not.

I don't like this little word 'if.' If we start adding 'if, if, if,' that means I wouldn't conquer anything completely.