Bill Duke Quotes

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 think of myself as making independent films within the studio system. Yes, I've made movies with significantly larger budgets, and I've also made movies with smaller budgets.

We try to make films for people [that are] the films that we'd like to see. They're not easy to get made. They're hard to get made. You have to keep the budget low to get them made. But at the end of the day, I don't really worry about competition, because I don't really think of it that way. I don't feel like I'm in a race with anybody.

Creativity and business acumen don't always go hand in hand.

Independent films are where you really get to cut your teeth and have some fun and do the things that mainstream Hollywood doesn't want to do.

I'd love to do more independent films.

I feel 100% sure that I have the career that I have today because of independent filmmaking.

You've got these big studio films and these tiny independent films now. It's very much either/or. With the independent films, it's always a beautiful risk - it might never be seen. With the studio films, you're conforming to the formula of what's always been in place.

I like the intimacy of independent films and I like the idea that people aren't being paid necessarily as much money as some one on a studio film.

With directing, you always have three or four things constantly on the go. It's a tough industry and a tough time, particularly if you're doing things a little outside the box or independent features.

A lot of times, you do independent films for passion because you may even lose money doing one, but it doesn't matter.

An entrepreneurial mind is always looking for new opportunities.

Above all, film is a business... Independence is a really cool thing as you can be a bit more bold, and take a few more chances with what you do.

There's something I really love about independent filmmaking. Everyone is a little bit more close-knit, and you rely on people a little bit more. The bigger the budget gets, the more everyone toes the line in their department.

We need more extreme movies in Sweden. Personal projects that are necessarily made for a bigger audience. I think it creates a creative lock-up to have the audience as a goal.

No, United Artists was a very extraordinary organization, because once they had agreed on the director, they believed in letting him have his way. They trusted me, and that doesn't often happen.

I always admired Stanley Kubrick for the fact that he managed to beat the system somehow. I think he kind of had it all figured out.

I did a few independent films, but there is no money in them.

The business has changed, and some people can keep talking about theatrical in these wondrous terms - it will survive, but it becomes narrower what you can make. So the films I'm most interested in, studios - or even the independents - aren't making them. I'm mostly interested in people.

The kind of films I want to make are struggling to get made. And if they are getting made, they're getting made on shoestring budgets with not enough time.

The truth is that I didn't start out making commercial movies. My films were not film festival movies with the possible exception slightly of 'Super,' but I was able to nurture my gifts through the works of artists making lower budget films that needed a place and an outlet.

I'll put it this way: with the kind of films that I do - creatively driven, with interesting directors and writers - I don't feel the need to work with the super established, top-tier directors that are out there.

Talented people have a responsibility to get the training they need to be successful risk takers and go out there to take risks. What I see is surplus of talented people and a shortage of people willing to take the risks.

I became a producer because nobody was ready to finance my films.

The reach of big-budget films is bigger, but I have always loved doing films that I believe in.