Jeff Baena Quotes

I have stories that I'd like to maybe one day consider directing, but you need a lot of time to write and put it together.

I started writing screenplays myself and eventually directing.

I think of myself more as a filmmaker or as a film person than as strictly just a writer. I don't come out of playwriting or anything like that.

I originally went to school to be a filmmaker. And so it's a big part of how I think and how I write. And it inspires me a lot.

Eventually, I would love to direct, but not anytime soon. I just love the storytelling aspect.

Filmmaking in general is my second career. I thought that writing wasn't practical, so I went to business school and got an MBA, and I worked three years in grant management.

I wasn't trained as a writer-director. And the projects I write are difficult to finish.

Acting is always going to be number one, but what I learned in film school, I want to make that happen too, so I'm going to actually start working on my own.

I had never thought of myself as a director and found out that I was not. I am a writer who was able to direct the films that I write.

I love making movies and hope to write my own screenplay someday and do some producing and be behind-the-scenes as well.

I want to make my own films from my own scripts based on stories I want to tell, but they take time to put together.

I have no interest whatsoever in pursuing acting or becoming a mogul. I love writing and directing; I see those two jobs as the most critical in the making of a film.

It's sort of one ongoing process where writing ends and directing starts.

I'm working on a few different films and I'm just searching for the right new story to tell. As a director, you just have to kind of like just get through the first project before starting on the next one.

I vicariously lived the life of an independent producer from the time I was four years old. And what was always important was writing, writing, writing.

You never know where your next movie is going to come from. You just have to fall in love with something because it's going to be taking up every moment of spare time in your life for about two years. You're going to be dreaming about it and thinking about it and becoming obsessed with it.

'Basha' is the best screenplay in my career.

I see myself directing, writing, doing my own TV shows and movies.

Even with college, the reason I wanted to go so badly is because I wanted to major in film. I want to take screenwriting classes and learn more about behind the scenes stuff, because I love people like Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig who are able to write a lot of their own material and be so involved in everything they do.

But I did on projects that I produced, that I directed, that I acted in because it was important. I want to be a filmmaker. I don't want to be an actor who directs, I want to be a director. I want to be a filmmaker. So that's a big difference.

I want to write, direct, produce, but in steps. I want to take steps. I don't want to just jump in because I sold a lot of records and just feel like I can jump into the movie world. Naw, I want to learn the movie world like I learned the music world.

I aspire to eventually be making my living by making movies.

The only way you can learn about making films is by making them, by putting your stamp on the thing.

Since I was a child, I've liked telling stories. Maybe because my father's a director, I grew up loving stories. I'm not good at spinning them at a dinner table because I do go on a bit, but I love writing them, and directing is just a way of editing the story.

The time it would take me to write a screenplay it would take me the time to make two films. I would rather make the movies, and I'm a better moviemaker than I would be writer.