Karyn Kusama Quotes

I just can't say enough about the actors having faith and trust in the writers and the writers having faith and trust in the actors.

The point is that filmmaking is a collaborative effort; it isn't about imposing your vision on other people. It's about the talking, you know?

As a writer, you're really in control of almost everything. That's not the case in TV. You have to be prepared to work with a lot of people to make something happen, and you got to be prepared, at least in the beginning, to not be too good at your specific task.

I'm not really a control person, and I'm a big believer in collaboration. I like to have a friend.

The directors I respect are the ones who have a collaborative attitude, who collaborate with actors.

I think most co-directors and co-writers just hold hands.

That's the nice thing about collaborating with someone: Your work becomes a conversation.

I may see a way I want to do something, and I understand when you have a team, everybody can't do their own thing. I'm willing to put my own agenda aside to do what's best for the team.

There was a time in my career when my hackles would really get raised if someone came in and said, 'We need you to do this or that.' But the fact of the matter is, you're working in a shared universe, and all elements of the universe are, ideally, going to mesh and work together. That's my goal. I want to be on the team.

I always have to re-learn the important lesson that the work is always stronger when I listen and take input from others.

A collaboration, you have to collaborate, meet in the middle, yield to the other collaborator, and that's a wonderful thing.

One of the great things I learned from how cooperative theater is, you can't be too precious about your ideas.

I've always been a very collaborative person, and I think 'Cop Car' and all the people I worked with who made it possible is a good example of that.

I want to be around people that are just as enthusiastic about the process and storytelling as I am.

I approach any collaboration I do differently.

The biggest thing that I learned is when you're building something - especially a project that requires partners - you have to make sure that there is a lot of overlapping desire and a lot of overlapping alignment with the people that you're doing work with.

When it comes to filmmaking, we have to deal with ego, anger, and a lot more; barring all these, how the team works towards the outcome matters.

Collaborating with someone on music is the same way you'd go about hanging out. You have to listen more than you talk.

I think... you know, collaboration, in general - no matter movies, television or Broadway - is offering of what you can bring to the table and also fighting what you think the important battles are. Not everything is going to make it in there. Not everything is going to work. You have to collaborate. And you have to be a good listener.

To get into another person's mindset and what they are trying to do with their project is a challenge, and it is what I like.

Even the lamest page can be saved by collaboration.

I'm proud of 'Sinister' because Scott and Cargill did a great job on the movie, and I set up a framework for them to make what they wanted to make. They gave me the idea, and I figured out how to get it out into the world.

I think the best work flows out of a collaborative environment.

And I think one way or another it's evident to those who work with me that as a writer, a director, a friend, as somebody's there that's very anxious to get the movie made.

Vince or Brad or Benicio would say, Maybe we should try this, and Guy was open to changes.