Top 100 Quotes About Independent Film
#1. There aren't many American directors here trying to direct a Japanese yakuza film. When you combine that with the fact that I don't speak much Japanese and this was an independent film I was financing myself - people were curious about what I was doing.
John Foster
#2. For the most part, the American film market has become very corporatised, even independent film to a degree, and because of the corporate management mentality, they want to take the safe way.
Anthony LaPaglia
#3. When a film like Chris Nolan's Memento cannot get picked up, to me independent film is over. It's dead.
Steven Soderbergh
#4. Part of the excitement of doing independent film is the complete unknown of what lies in store for the film's future.
Rachel Miner
#5. No, I just thought of a story and wrote down what I saw. It was about two kids in Ireland who went around killing people. It was called Travelers, and it was made as an independent film.
Neil Jordan
#6. When you are making an independent film, money is never an issue.
Salman Rushdie
#7. I love the energy of an independent film set. No one is there for the money. Everyone is there 'cause they really want to be there. It makes all the difference in the world. It's without ego and agenda, other than just wanting to fulfill a creative dream.
Mamie Gummer
#8. Independent film is almost nonexistent right now, because all the distributers that used to love to put out these little art films are all out of business right now, because it costs so much to open a movie.
Ron Perlman
#9. I didn't have a lot of independent film connections. It really took until the digital film revolution came along that I realized that I could do it myself.
Harry Shearer
#10. Intimacy between humans need not be relegated to independent film. Real characters can exist no matter what the scale of a movie is.
Colin Trevorrow
#11. There was a golden era in film-making in Hollywood back in the 1970s, and although there is some great independent film-making in America, it's actually very hard to get independent films made in the United States. It's much more feasible from Europe.
Lenny Abrahamson
#12. The culture of independent film criticism has totally gone down the drain and this seems to come with the territory of the consumer age that we are now living in.
Wim Wenders
#13. To make a real independent film where the filmmaker is in charge creatively, one must sacrifice personal, financial, and physical well-being.
Mark Polish
#14. I have great respect for actors like Jodie Foster and Natalie Portman who went to school the entire time they were acting. All I did was one small little independent film, and I realised I couldn't balance both lives.
Nikki Reed
#15. I want to have the illegitimate child of independent film making and the budget to make it. That's my aspiration.
Duncan Jones
#16. I'm also working on another independent film called Roxanne, Roxanne, about Roxanne Shante, who was one of the first African American battle rappers from Brooklyn. It is produced by Forest Whitaker and Pharrell [williams], so I'm really in great hands.
Nia Long
#17. With any independent film, it's all about getting everyone's schedules in line and everything together at the same time and just doing the best you can do when that happens - if it happens.
Jennifer Westfeldt
#18. I grew up thinking there was something called 'independent film,' which I wouldn't necessarily have had access to if there wasn't Sundance.
Ira Sachs
#19. I went to the top of the mountain in television and could do anything I wanted, but I wanted to do an independent film, which results in you paying your own way, fighting like hell to get distribution, and maybe 30 people will see it. That was a good idea.
Joel Surnow
#20. Because audiences all over the world can see an independent film almost anywhere and anytime, these new distribution outlets have opened a door that is revolutionizing the movie-going experience.
Gren Wells
#21. In terms of doing another franchise after 'Transformers,' I don't know if that would be best for me. I'm really happy to inhabit the world of independent film.
Jack Reynor
#22. You have the massive world that was created by Marvel, and then you have these very intimate actors around you. There was as much character work on this as there would be on a little independent film. So, I felt very fortunate in that sense.
Chris Hemsworth
#23. When you're making an independent film what you don't have in time and money you have to make up with creativity and diligence.
Matthew Lillard
#24. I do love directing. I'm only comfortable working in the independent film arena for a very small budget where I have creative control and I can put my stamp on it.
Vera Farmiga
#25. It's always fun to get to do independent film because I believe that that's the life blood of film. It's about writers and directors who truly have their own vision, and that's hard.
Steve Buscemi
#26. I'm just looking for the best story being told by the best people and the best part that I can find. If those things add up, I want to be a part of it whether it's a studio film or, more likely in that instance, an independent film.
John Hawkes
#27. The network shows have this very commercial voice that you have to adhere to, and the cable shows, it's kind of like winning the lottery. The independent film world is a world you can actually get to. You can get the under-a-million-dollar film by finding a good cast and financing.
Jill Soloway
#28. TV, in particular cable channels, has assumed the role of independent film.
Eric Stoltz
#29. Definition of an independent film is torture with less money and time.
Joey Lauren Adams
#30. The movie industry has collapsed into two types of film - the $100 million blockbuster or the small independent film of $1 million or less - and the huge middle ground has been lost. Cable is filling that void.
Jonathan LaPaglia
#31. I want to do more independent film. I'm blessed to be working on really quality episodic television, which to me actually feels like a sort of 13-hour film.
Maggie Siff
#33. I might do my own independent film, that my husband wrote for me, if all the ducks are in a row.
Erica Durance
#34. I am an independent film-maker first and foremost. I have always cut my own cloth.
Mira Nair
#36. I had not starred in an independent film and it's about a woman who owned a hair salon.
Jenifer Lewis
#37. I love independent film making. So much real love and passion go into them and you can feel it while you watch. As for my career, I don't want to be famous. I just want to be a part of as many beautiful, crazy, unique films as possible.
Alicia Sixtos
#38. With independent film, as an actor, you have more involvement - it's very much more connected. It's not just like I'm showing up and there's another actor on the call sheet; you're very attached to it.
Alia Shawkat
#39. This fall I'm doing something I've never done before. I'm starring in a film, an independent film.
Michael W. Smith
#40. The only place that I'd be worried about being typecast is the independent film world.
Michelle Rodriguez
#41. Independent film is film that has thought in it. There's no independent thought in studio films. It's collective thought.
Seymour Cassel
#42. In the beginning, it wasn't even a question of deciding I'm going to do independent film and not commercial films - I wasn't being offered any commercial films, and there wasn't an independent scene.
Steve Buscemi
#43. I did a film when I was about 30; it's a coming of age story called 'Gas Food Lodging,' and I'm so proud of that little independent film. I play this young English geologist, and he's such a simple, loving kind of guy. Doesn't talk too much. He's just a quiet guy, and he gets the girl.
Robert Knepper
#44. I've had a lot of experience in independent film, and about how to choose. You've got to be very discerning about where you put your five bucks, and where you cut and what you don't cut.
Ethan Hawke
#45. Instead of dumping all my money on an independent film that nobody would watch and most people would make fun of behind my back, I decided, 'I'm just going to buy a house.'
Daniel Tosh
#46. Basically, independent film doesn't exist anymore. It does if you have two or three stars in your film, but it's just very difficult.
Steven Shainberg
#47. We're told that independent film lovers ... folks that are used to watching art house films, won't come out and see a film with black people in it - I've been told that in rooms, big rooms, studio rooms, and I know that's not true.
Ava DuVernay
#48. I was lucky enough to come in at the beginning of the independent film movement and its really shaped my life and career.
Julianne Moore
#49. I did very much enjoy being part of an independent film. It was just the energy.
Kylie Minogue
#50. It's always a challenge to make an independent film. It's always a challenge to make a low budget film.
Anne Heche
#51. There's plenty of great independent films to do, but you can't support yourself making independent film as an actress.
Gaby Hoffmann
#52. The truth for me is that I've been doing independent film since the get-go, so that's a big passion of mine, but the big ones are really fun, too. I like my world to be eclectic.
Lynn Collins
#53. When the small independent film, which depends on its artistic appeal rather than wide commercial distribution by an MPAA member, is now denied access, the playing field becomes unfair and uneven.
Norman Jewison
#54. The lifeblood of my career has been independent film.
James Woods
#55. It's becoming increasingly harder and harder; there's no such thing as independent film anymore. There aren't any, they don't exist. In the old days you could go and get a certain amount of the budget with foreign sales, now everybody wants a marketable angle.
Gary Oldman
#56. It's just hard to get an independent film made.
Luke Evans
#57. Independent film is such a huge deal in the UK. There aren't many big budget studio movies that get greenlit at all. The indie film industy is a great opportunity that I'm trying to seize.
Aml Ameen
#58. It's never easy getting an independent film made and distributed - even when it's easy.
Paul Dinello
#59. All in all, I'd like to venture into film. Films are my staple diet, so I would love to be part of a feature film, independent film ... it all just depends on the story and the people behind it, really.
Tom Weston-Jones
#60. On an independent film you're lucky if you get one, but ostensibly the job is the same. There's very little difference, apart from the knowledge that there's a captive audience at the end of it - which you can't always guarantee with a movie.
Charles Dance
#61. I still want to do a romantic comedy or a western or a gritty independent film ... there's so much that I still want to do.
Laura Vandervoort
#62. I think I'm wealthy. I make a good living for what I do. Well, it depends. If I'm doing an independent film I'm making no money - probably losing money. But if I'm doing a studio film, I'll make a decent wage. I can live for a year without working.
Eric Stoltz
#63. A few nights ago I went to a Hollywood screening of a small independent film made by Sally Kirkland, an old friend of mine who also did terrific job acting in it. There were other actors in it and they were all terrific.
Nick Mancuso
#64. And you know, we did it as an independent film, and we weren't expecting it to be on television, and Lifetime ended up buying it. And the viewers responded intensely to that film.
Jenna Elfman
#65. There was an interesting article in Los Angeles Magazine about women directors. A woman director makes one bad independent film and her career is over. Guys tend to get an opportunity to learn from their mistakes.
Dick Wolf
#66. I've done a lot of independent film, which are short shoots that are usually four to six weeks, max. I enjoy everything. After one particular experience of work, I like to go in the opposite direction and do a short film, or something else.
Adelaide Clemens
#67. My heart is in independent film-making. For me, it's where the fun, gritty storytelling is being told.
Aaron Paul
#68. Newlyweds shooting budget: 5k for actors, 2k insurance, 2k food and drink. 9k in the can. We only shot 12 days. That's how to make an independent film.
Edward Burns
#69. I'm always struck by the kids who turn up in New York and LA, and places in between. Chicago. Wanting to do theater, wanting to do independent film. Wanting to break into television or radio.
Frank Rich
#70. On an independent film, you really learn about pace. You have so little time to do things, that you really have to know your scenes.
Juno Temple
#71. I've really enjoyed the independent film world. I've had a blast. But, the reality is that I really want to make bigger movies. If I could make movies that carry great characters and great performances and great pathos, and can have an explosion or two, that would be fine with me.
Matthew Lillard
#72. The first time I took acid, I made the decision that I would stay in New York and find an independent film company to get a job with.
Lloyd Kaufman
#73. When I hear the word 'independent' I reach for my revolver. At this point, what the hell does that mean? The English Patient is an independent film. Hootie and the Blowfish are alternative music. I'm the Queen of Denmark. I don't know what it means anymore.
Jim Jarmusch
#74. I've always felt that an independent film is a film that almost doesn't get made.
Glenn Close
#75. The size of a studio film lets you see technology in a way that you wouldn't on an independent film, like the gadgets and the angles and all that.
Juno Temple
#76. I mean, I made The Phantom, although The Phantom was, believe it or not, an independent film. It was just a very large, expensive independent film.
Gerard Butler
#77. Independent film is taking risks in all areas. It's not just about complicated women.
Anne Heche
#78. I'm just thinking of 2001, which I think is the most expensive independent film ever made - which is great, someday I hope I will do one. But I know the parameters when I got onto this project - I have to take care of everyone, make sure that they are all on board, and this process interests me.
Michel Gondry
#79. Take away the love and the laughter, narrate the stories as if the characters had acted with malice and self-absorption, and everybody was in a bleak independent film about alcoholism and schizophrenia and child abuse.
Nick Hornby
#80. I met Roger Ebert at an independent-film awards or something. And he said, 'When I saw you just now, I wanted to punch you in the face. And then I had to remember you're an actor. So, congratulations!' Those are my accolades.
Leo Fitzpatrick
#81. The biggest problem with the independent film sector in Toronto is that they find themselves having to make that budget show on screen.
Atom Egoyan
#82. For me, whether or not a film has some kind of massive budget or is an independent film, or however it's getting made, it's always about the filmmaker and, hopefully, being a vessel for the filmmaker's vision. That's what really attracts me to projects.
Bryce Dallas Howard
#83. To be honest, you have to do a big Hollywood film to get enough money to do a good independent film!
Sean Bean
#84. I came out of independent film, that's my roots.
Nicolas Cage
#85. The good thing about the studio is that, when the movie comes out, they will put their marketing and their money behind it, which isn't necessarily true with indie movies, just by the nature of it being an independent film.
Jamie Linden
#86. Whereas money is a means to an end for a filmmaker, to the corporate mind money is the end. Right now, I think independent film is very confused, because there's excess pressure in the marketplace for entertainment to pay off.
Robert Redford
#87. I believe that independent film making is the last frontier of creative expression available. So I'm always willing to lend a helping hand to a young film maker who's just getting into the business.
Lloyd Kaufman
#88. I think there's a time and place to watch an independent film, or catch up on a French action film on your laptop, or Netflix it, or download it, or watch it on-demand. But I think we also have to maintain the sacredness of the movie theatre as church - especially with event screenings.
Robert Englund
#89. I took all my TV experience and what I learned about - by writing and directing and bringing a movie to Sundance - about the realities of the independent film market: 'Transparent' is the marriage of those two situations.
Jill Soloway
#90. Independent film is not only an oxymoron; it doesn't exist anymore.
Martha Plimpton
#91. The only reason I ever do an independent film is that I believe in it, and I think it has something special to offer. I'm certainly not doing it to be a millionaire.
Jason Ritter
#92. I knew nothing about the independent film industry. I didn't know much about the industry itself. All I knew was how to watch movies, how to enjoy them, how to hate them, how not to like them.
Michelle Rodriguez
#93. The great thing about an independent film is that you're too busy working, and you're too busy hoping to God to get it done.
Ann Dowd
#94. It's a unique experience when you're doing an independent film where you have one person who puts up all the funds to make the film.
Forest Whitaker
#96. People in independent film have a passion; they're not in it for the money.
Gena Rowlands
#97. In the '80s, I can't say that Amy and I were aware of an independent film community. We could only get a certain amount of money for our pictures, which made them low budget movies, but they were distributed through studios.
Griffin Dunne
#98. Many of us had this idea of doing independent film, of making personal, relevant films, as opposed to Hollywood fluff. I directed a few.
Robert Kane Pappas
#99. I come from Venezuela, from the independent film arena, and you work with one camera.
Edgar Ramirez
#100. In studio films, everything has to be boxed in, everybody needs to know beforehand - this is comedy, this is sci-fi, this is drama - and what's the point of independent film if you don't get to experiment?
Famke Janssen
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