Johnny Messner Quotes

Films are now made by accountants. They pick a pretty young female or male face out of the air and give them a part - not because they think that person is right for it or is ready for it, but because they think that person will make them money.

The biggest difference between me and other artists out there is that they'll put anything out to sell a record or sell a ticket.

I absolutely loathe the idea of doing a fragrance simply as a moneymaker. Personal brand to make money? Vomit.

It can be a machine. The machine tries to make money and forget about the heart and the art. Hollywood is more about making money.

Movie is a near art form. It's showbiz and people want to make money. And generally people are financing things because they think it will make money whether it's a cable news show, a cable show, or a feature film, or whatever it is. So that's the part of it that drives it, I think, is really the dollar.

Today, they're just up there for the money, just packaged and be gone.

I'll bet Shakespeare compromised himself a lot; anybody who's in the entertainment industry does to some extent.

People have always asked me, 'Haven't you wanted to sell out?', and it's like, who am I going to sell to?

I'm sort of murdered for selling books. The idea is, if you make money your work can't be literary.

I also don't like films that are made just to make money, no this kind of film I don't like.

Modern poets talk against business, poor things, but all of us write for money. Beginners are subjected to trial by market.

There are values on Broadway that are dangerous: it's got to be Best Musical, it's got to make money, it's got to run a certain amount of time. Nowhere in this, of course, is there any mention of quality.

Capitalists work hard to produce what consumers want. Artists who work too hard to produce what consumers want are often accused of selling out. Thus, even the languages of capitalism and art conflict: a firm that has 'sold out' has succeeded, but an artist that has 'sold out' has failed.

The way Hollywood works, you're never sure if their first thought is to make a great film and honor the material or just another business property.

I think I deliberately sold out a couple of times. I picked the songs that I thought would do well in the marketplace, even though I didn't really love the song.

Movie makers now choose profit over vision.

I've decided something: Commercial things really do stink. As soon as it becomes commercial for a mass market it really stinks.

My fears about where theater is going - it's the Hollywood model, where people are chasing the almighty dollar and making commercial decisions based on nothing more than generating income for themselves and their theaters.

Some musicians don't have strong opinions, or they deliberately don't have strong opinions because they want to try and sell as many records as possible.

I really don't believe in the word 'selling out.'

I know that people get cast based on how they look in Hollywood.

There are lots of parts of filmmaking that I don't like. At the end of the day, especially on features, the film turns into a commodity. You have to play this entirely new game I'm very uncomfortable with.

I agree when people say TV is regressive. I would go back to TV only for the money.

It can pay off, being a hack. Given the depraved state of American culture, a slick dude can make millions being a hack. But even if you succeed, you lose, because you’ve sold out your Muse, and your Muse is you, the best part of yourself, where your finest and only true work comes from.

To be quite blunt, I make pictures for money, to pay the rent.There are some great artists in the business. I am not one of them.