Steve Forbert Quotes

I always start a film thinking I know how to do it, then I learn all over again.

I try to see everything I do. It's a good learning tool for me. You kind of remember what you were going for when you were shooting it, and then see how it comes across in the context of what comes before and after it.

I don't consider myself supremely talented, but I really like to try things and sift through it and see what mess I made.

If I make a mistake I try to use it as a lesson and try to improve on it.

You're always trying to get better. You're always tinkering. You're always learning new things.

Everything I get praised for, I can still work on and get better.

If you got it, ask yourself why and try to repeat the action. If you failed, ask yourself why and try to learn from the experience.

I can always see ways to improve what I've done. At the same time, knowing it's all an ongoing life's work allows me to be less precious about blind alleys, failed experiments, and misfires.

I take constructive criticism really well.

Big ideas developed in a vacuum are doomed from the start. Feedback is the essential tool for building and growing a successful company.

I can always get better at what I'm doing because I'm not nearly as good as I think I can be. I'm going to try to improve every chance I get.

Value experiences by how much you're learning, and if you're aren't learning, move on.

Sometimes I do that quite a lot, go back and forth a lot between ideas. Try things out.

I can listen to all the people patting me on the back, or I can listen to the people saying I need to get better. I know I need to get better, or else there would be nobody saying that.

I wish I had known that that process of figuring out what you're good at, what you want to do, and where you want to have an impact is not a one-time exercise, but an ongoing one. Instead, I bought into success being an endpoint rather than a constant process.

I get very competitive with myself and always look to better myself from my previous projects. I have learned that it's important to work on the craft than the project.

If you want to evolve and reinvent yourself, you will need to observe people and explore a lot.

The only thing I can expect from myself is to learn from each competition and improve.

I grew up doing theater, so I'm used to working with people where you can definitely ask another person a question or advice or say, "Hey, let's try it this way," or "What do you think if I did it this way?"

I think the philosophy will continue to be what it always was; which was, let's keep throwing a bunch of things at the wall, and see what sticks.

There's always room for improvement. I incorporate the lessons I learned from my mistakes and move forward.

But, something has to be worked through formally as well as emotionally. Now, when those two things come together I've got something, I think, that I can be proud of.

Humility in this business [acting] isn't just a matter of being polite, it's kind of a matter of survival. You can't ever afford to think that you're the bee's knees, because you could always afford to be better. You have to always be searching for something better.

I've been making movies for a long time. The Japanese way of making movies has become second nature to me. To get away from that, I really try to surround myself with younger staff and approach making movies not like a veteran of the industry but always as a beginner and a rookie.

The best advice I have is keep writing, keep practicing, keep winning, losing and understanding the difference. Never stop learning, never stop pushing yourself. Then find yourself a team you can work well with and help make awesome things happen.