Thelma Schoonmaker Quotes

I wanted to prove that I could do something, so I made a short film. That was in fact my main concern, to be able to show that I could do one.

I love all of my books. They were labors of love; I was striving to create something well done, and I do feel I succeeded.

I don't feel, 'I've made a great film'; I feel I've made what I set out to make.

I learned how to eat right and learned portion control and how to exercise. Staying persistent over the years, I have been able to change the way I'm perceived on the outside.

I never thought in a million years I'd be that healthy girl who wakes up every morning to exercise. After being called 'cherubic and chubby,' I'm rocking a bikini!

I probably get more satisfaction from making a show than being on a show.

But I'm also talented and I know when I created something great and Perfect Night is something great, no doubt, no but.

I recently lost 50 pounds. I'm hovering on the cusp of a size eight, which seems unbelievable.

I'm thrilled with my body of work.

If I get anything out, producing anything, no matter whether it's good or not, I allow myself a little pat on the back.

The wonderful thing with some of the things I've done - most of them, really - is to be trusted. To be able to do your thing, to work on it, hone it into my gem of creativity!

Pretty much every record I've ever done, I can go back and listen to them and be proud. I'm proud of everything I've done.

I feel like the job in editing is to let the movie tell you what it is. So again, it's like sculpture. You just start taking away, you add a nose here, you cut off, like, the side of the cheek over here in the crease, and you have a face. But it really reveals to you what it means to be over time, and if you have enough time.

The idea of being able to polish something for nine months - it's the perfect way to hone your film.

Now, with all my world titles, I am very happy because I can say to all those people that what I chose to do was good for me.

I think that being able to do a WWE studios film gives you confidence to say that I was able to go out there and accomplish something.

'No Matter What' is, without question, the most personal song I have ever written and the one I am most proud of.

I think that that spirit, or at least the raucousness of maybe that, is in there. And then yeah, like, along the way, you fine tune it 'cause you're thinking, like, OK, we need to now turn this into a song.

There are movies that I've made where I thought I was going to be good, but when it was cut it together it wasn't. And there are a lot of movies that, for one reason or another, just don't become popular. So to me it's always been a little bit of a roll of the dice. That's the way it goes.

When I'm editing, I tend to cut, go back over it, cut, go back over it, cut, so by the time I'm done, even with a cut, I don't have a rough cut and then work on it so much. I have a pretty rigorous cut of the movie that's usually in the range of what the final movie is going to be. It doesn't mean I don't work on it a lot after that, but I get it into a shape so I feel I can really tell what it needs, or at least it's ready to show people.

I get very, very anxious on the set. I have a thousand ideas and I don't censor myself. I wind up cutting some of them out in the editing room... I shoot [needless footage] and then don't use later on in the process.

I learned early on that it's heartbreaking to - there's the editor that comes in, and then they have to craft the movie together, and sometimes you give a whole performance that's just been cut up, and maybe it's better for it, absolutely, but you still have to deal with the loss of that.

I always say writing is like dreaming, shooting is like living, and editing is like murder, because you take all these gifts that actors give you, and you cut them.

I never really understood how movies were made, because it was such a technical accomplishment.

I was fascinated by the effects that could be achieved by editing. The cutting room became a magic workshop for me.