Industry Challenges Quotes

The record business is dangerous to the health of bands and individuals, which is something I'm just now learning. But it's not dangerous in any of the ways people think; it's not that they try to make you compromise your art. That's not the problem.

The U.S. healthcare system is probably the most interesting large group of companies that are heading for major problems that we've seen in a long, long time.

A career like mine as an actor has a lot of ups and downs. Sometimes you wonder if you're not wasting your time trying to carve out a space for yourself in this crazy entertainment industry.

I even have nephews who make music, my daughter makes music. I don't know what advice to give them these days. It's really a tough industry to break into.

Getting an agent is hard, and I also think people rush to get an agent too soon.

I think of myself more as a workhorse actor. It will be hot and cold and up and down, but no one will kick me out of the business.

I'd love to say that every move I make is completely calculated and I'm sitting on a pile of scripts, sifting through them for the perfect role, but the fact is that there are a lot of talented people out there and there's a lot of competition in our business.

In the back of my mind, I can never forget this could be gone tomorrow - and at this point I think the odds are against me... the chances of succeeding in this business are slim to none; there's only a handful of people that have long careers. You have to put in the work, you can never be satisfied, never take it for granted.

In any film business, if you're trying to get your next film made, you would never say, 'Oh, my last film was a cult film.' I'd say, 'Oh, great, well I hope this one isn't!' I always say to Johnny Knoxville, 'How do you do it? You sort of do the same thing we did, except you made millions, and I made hundreds.'

In this industry, you have to have passion. It's tough; there's no mercy. But I just love cars - I love to bring a new car to market. And every time I do this, it gets a little easier.

It's very difficult to be a woman in any industry.

At the end of the day, I'm still an African-American woman in a male-dominated industry, so sometimes you have to deal with people not taking your ideas seriously. But I look at it as, I'd rather have adversities in something that I love than doing something that I hate or where I am not interested.

It's not like publishing is perfect. Far from it. The industry is struggling to adapt and survive, and it's incredibly frustrating trying to break in.

I've discovered on this journey in the entertainment industry that, especially as a girl, woman... it's really important to try to create your own opportunities.

When you make a movie, it's just a huge bureaucracy because movies cost so much money. Millions of people get involved, and pretty soon the creative idea gets tramped on and watered down or filtered through a huge system.

If we don't do a better job of getting illegal worker immigration policies in place, it's going to be a significant impediment to a number of industries.

Good scripts are difficult to come by in the industry, especially if you are an outsider.

I would love to act in Bengali movies, but the work culture here is pathetic.

In this industry, all the heads of labels are men, but every artist has to prove themselves, regardless of their sex. I have always been very vocal about the women sticking together.

Right before 'The Bourne Identity' came out, I hadn't been offered a movie in a year.

I do like to work with young directors because it's such a difficult business that I think after directors have been around a while sometimes, not always, but sometimes their passion gets siphoned off because they get hurt.

From the time I was 16 to really up until turning 21, the roles were really, really few and far between. I had people say that I just wasn't a good singer. They didn't know what to do with me; I would never fit in any markets. I almost quit acting altogether.

Will the theater disappear? No. Is it healthy? Also no.

You can never fight for a part or can't beg them to do another audition. You can try, but that rarely works.

At a certain point, I think, you harden yourself to the realities of the business.