Matt Damon Quotes

I feel, for the most part, especially in comedy, you make your own work, and maybe that's true across the board.

I do love being solo because I can have more of my own creative input to every aspect of my career.

I've learned over the years that the best way to develop as an artist is to make things. So I tell young artists it's not enough to be an actor anymore, you have to be a filmmaker/writer/director. There's no excuse for waiting around for a job. You have to be active and make things.

I don't wait on the music industry to qualify me or give me my paycheck. I go about my business as an artist and I believe that my value is in my product and in my art form, and that's why I can't be stopped, because I began producing my record by myself, without a record company.

I didn't come to Hollywood to be subservient to anyone else's vision.

I can't tell you how freeing it is to have my own label. For the first time in my career, I have total control.

In England, there's a lot of people producing their own work and becoming producers and filmmakers, so they're not constantly waiting around. It can be very scarce for work, so it's important to create the work.

I do less waiting by the phone than anyone I know in the business. I don't wait for a job. I just go on to my own work.

I am never driven. Every film I've made has been an assignment.

As soon as I became proactive in producing my own stuff, I started getting other roles.

Producing all my own songs and refusing to go to the hot producer. That's the biggest risk I've taken so far.

It's a huge responsibility being a solo act.

I didn't want to just be an artist and let someone else have all that control over me. I knew I would have to produce.

I mean, being a solo artist is very different than being a member of a band. It's absolutely different. The whole situation is very different - situations where you can't really compare, it's so very different. But I found happiness.

Definitely, doing my solo stuff, it's fun in a different way. I get a lot more say. However, there's a lot more work to do because I have to make everything happen.

As an independent artist, you control the means of production, which is the ultimate form of empowerment.

During my career as a standup and actor, I realized it was very frustrating for me to get hired because Hollywood was hiring a different kind of brother, you know, and I was doing political humor... In order for me to really have a long career, I'm going to have to learn how to write and produce for myself... I had no idea I was really going to like it and I'm very fortunate to be successful. But the idea was to always eventually create something for myself. That was the idea from the beginning when I went into writing and producing.

I've always been sort of entrepreneurial. ... I felt that I needed to learn how to write and produce so I could write my own thing and not worry about Hollywood finding me.

I wanted to be more hands on. Otherwise, every time you finish acting in a movie you have to almost go and beg people for the next job, whereas if you have the chance to create and produce your next movie that keeps you busier, it gives you more options and hopefully enables you to make the type of movies you're passionate about.

I'm not going to wait on anybody to put out music or a visual. Everything I will do is on my own. I'm not waiting on anyone.

I don't want to wait for Hollywood to decide that what I do is good.

It's hard to not get typed in Hollywood. They really want to type you. I'm trying to avoid that, because I want to do a lot of things. I know what I'm capable of. I forgive them because they don't know. They haven't seen me play Hamlet. They're not going to cast me as an English aristocrat. I'm going to have to prove that on my own. That's okay. That's what you have to fight for if you want to be an artist.

I thought that if no one was going to give me a great part - and it was very difficult to break into film, obviously - then I'd write one myself.

You've got to run your career. What happens is a lot of times artists have this talent and they're just looking for somebody to take it and do something with it. And you have to be the creative force.

Encourage members of your team to take the initiative and act on their own.