Michael De Luca Quotes

I think the toughest thing is to describe what a producer does because they basically do everything. They follow a project from the start through the rest of its life and, along the way, are a part of every single aspect of its growth. It's tremendously enriching, though, because you get to know and live with the movie in its entirety.

I'm a very hands-on producer.

When I did 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', I had the idea on Monday and the following Tuesday it was in budget at Paramount. I couldn't walk.

I guess I'm a good manager now. Moreover, I'm loving the concept of donning the producer's hat. It's all very exciting as well as a great learning experience. You're a part of a film right from its conception to its execution, and that's an amazing feeling.

As a producer, you're there from the inception of the concept to the delivery of it. It just takes so much energy.

The first thing I learned as a producer is that you have very little control over the life of a project. Anything can stall a film from financing to scheduling to casting. Things fall apart all the time. Don't waste time on something that just won't get made. Try to have as many projects going at one time as you can handle.

Being a producer is more than a 24 hour job.

Ever since my first film, I had more producers than scripts. And I've realised that a certain project requires a certain kind of producer for it to be made well.

I don't think I'll ever be a producer who's into taking the meetings and fighting the big fights with studios. I really don't like that part. I'm much more interested in the material.

Making a film, setting it up and getting it cast and getting it together, is not an easy thing.

Making a movie is a lot of problem solving.

I think any filmmaker looks back and thinks, 'Boy, if we only had four hours more on that day when the sun was going down,' or, 'If we only spent more time and went back.'

It is important to be financially savvy when you turn producer. As a director, you just need to have a good script in hand.

I think people forget that a lot of directing is just real management of the size of a production.

I actually signed on to do 'On the Road' before we started on 'Tron,' but we were in flux for a while, just sort of playing the waiting game, trying to get the right budget and the right cast.

The only problem we've had is the amount of time it's taking people to develop titles.

I know that producing will ultimately mean more longevity in the business, so when I'm tired of everything else and want to be behind the cameras, I know that I can produce.

BBC TV gets hold of an idea and beats it to death until we're all heartily sick of it. They buy people without thinking what they're going to do with them. It's the wrong way around. What they should be doing is employing really good ideas people to come up with good ideas.

Nobody understands what a producer does.

It's great being a producer! Why am I wasting my career writing and directing? Those are actual jobs in which you work. Being a producer, it's kind of like you just go to the set, yell at a couple of people, and then stay up all night dancing in nightclubs.

There is a variety of different kind of producers. I'm a very hands-on, creative producer. I find material that I think would make a good movie or TV show, find the right financier/studio/network, hire a writer, get a good script, find a director, and collaborate with him/her to cast the movie and hire department heads.

I think people really don't understand what a producer does versus what a director does. I mean, the producer is often the person that is on the movie the longest - it's their material that they are then bringing the director onto to bring it to the screen. Are we overlooked? Absolutely.

I have been working on one film at a time. One film recovers a little cost and that helps me move on to the next one.

You can't make two films at the same time.

Production is not an easy game and I would want to be prepared with the right team, script, etc before getting into it.