Jon Favreau Quotes

In the U.K., there's absolutely no money for television. So you can do pretty much whatever you want. They're not losing money on any of the shows, so they'll give you a lot of creative freedom. In the United States, there are millions and millions of dollars at stake, so they need a sure formula.

The more people's money you take to do something, the more inputs you get.

There's the concept that if I do this big budget project, then that will help me do the things I really want to do and bring more money to those films.

The key, I think, from a business point of view, is to learn how to be efficient in making a record that's not too expensive, so that you're not going crazy spending tons of money making a product that might not ever return that money.

Nobody's ever made a film in the history of cinema where they weren't expecting some return on their dough.

You just can't keep pouring money down an endless hole and never recoup any of it. It's got to be a business.

If I give five flops, I won't get a job. You have to perform at the box office when you are at the top. No one is running a charity here. People are putting huge amounts of money to make movies, and they want the films to be successful. They have invested money in you, so it is your duty to make sure the film does well.

The first thing you've got to remember is that it's your clients' money you're spending.

As a producer or financier, you are going to go where you get the best bang for your buck.

You have to spend a lot to make a lot. It's not like I'm sitting on top of a pile of money.

It costs a lot of money to release a movie. What you'd call art-house movies - movies that don't have big stars or big budgets - they're very hard for distributors to get behind 'em and take chances.

As a part owner, I'm going to be not only an admirer... but a nervous wreck.

For the most part, studio movies have huge budgets. They don't do anything under 30 to 40 million. When you have that much money at stake, you have so many people breathing down your neck.

It's a terribly hard job to spend a billion dollars and get your money's worth.

People are very reluctant to invest unless they know it's going to be a sure thing, and let's face it: film is never a sure thing.

Hollywood executives believe that money is both the be-all and end-all to the moviemaking process.

That's the biggest rule in Hollywood: Don't spend your own money.

Personally, I'm not interested in getting more money for what I do; I'm just interested in more money being put into the production.

Be it $15 million here and $11 million there, it takes hundreds of millions to be successful in this business.

I've made a payroll. I know what it's like to execute a business plan. I know what it's like to expect the proper return on investment... and I know you can't spend your way out of debt.

Not all of our movies work, but we take shots, and we're able to do that because we really stick to low budgets.

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.

People, including business leaders, are willing to be open-minded about investment dollars when they know where they are going - and what purpose they are going to be dedicated - as opposed to just going into the black abyss of the general fund.

There simply isn't a way to do the show without investing in a bunch more companies.

For resourceful tech founders, finding capital is rarely a problem; making the best use of it is another story. A few years slinging pepperoni pies and chicken wings - on tiny margins and with minimal investment - might not be the worst fiscal training.