There were a lot of people dreaming about making films, and they would finance maybe 6 films a year. Because they were funded by the government, the films sort-of had to deal with serious social issues - and, as a result, nobody went to see those films.
Looking at Capitol's performance over a 22-year period, I figure they were focused three years out of the 22 I worked for them.
There was a time in the 1980s when I worked in 22 films a year.
In an old model, the way a film would imprint itself on the public's consciousness is to get a theatrical run. But now there are more documentaries and more films in general being released than ever before. There are weeks when the New York Times is reviewing 15 films, so it's harder to leave an impression on the public. A lot of these films are seeing their financial future on digital platforms. Because viewers aren't hearing as much about films in theatrical release, I think the festival circuit is going to have increasing importance for the life of a film.
We typically make movies that are geared towards 18-year-olds. The people who pay and go to movies more than two or three times are usually under 22, so I get how it works. I don't really want 18-year-old boys to find me that attractive, that kind of would creep me out at this stage.
We should release films without revealing the director's name, as his or her gender would not be a barometer to watch those films.
If we just made one movie, 'The Hobbit,' the fact is that all the fans, the eight-, nine- and 10-year-old boys, they would watch it 1,000 times. Now, they've got three films they can watch 1,000 times.
I auditioned for quite a lot of films. I do not wish to name the films I auditioned for. There were times when I knew I would not be fit for this film, or I would not get this film. Still, I used to audition for it just to get experience... to practice.
There were times I didn't think we would ever make it, even when we were cranking two out a year.
If I were involved with the NBA, I wouldn't want a 19-year-old or a 20-year-old kid to bring into all the travel and all the problems that exist in the NBA. I would want a much more mature kid. I would want a kid that maybe I've been watching on another team, and now he's 21, 22 years old instead of 18 or 19, and I might trade for that kid.
I wasn't that familiar with silent films. I didn't know, for example, how hugely popular silent films were in the 1920s, how people would go to the movies several times a week.
There were times that the kids were upset I wasn't there, those three times a year they needed me. The rest of the time, I'm sure that I wasn't in their thoughts.
When I was first starting out in the industry in the early '90s, gay love stories were relegated to limited-release films that were hidden deep in the back of Blockbuster video stores.
When I was 20, 21, 22 years old, I was making really good money for a 22-year-old, but it wasn't a huge pot. And of course I made a lot of mistakes. I'm glad I got to make those mistakes with a smaller pool of money and learn from it as opposed to learning the hard way with bigger amounts of money when there would be more consequences.
With excessive digitisation, now, everyone is making films, which is good, but the makers think that they will quickly make films in digital and bag satellite rights but television channels buy satellite rights of notable films only. If we made fewer films a year, percentage of hits would be better.
Sometimes, they don't even make films with good cameras - they shoot with normal cameras and release the films. If this is going to be the case, the industry will not see quality films.