I think of music videos as commercials for songs.
— Valerie Faris
We had a couple of films that, in the course of working on them, the budget shrank to the point where we couldn't make it. They literally ran the numbers: They took our numbers and the stars' numbers, and when they calculated whether we could make our money back or not, it said no.
The American dream tells you that you'll have success if you work hard enough, and we have some concerns about that fallacy. Hopefully, the characters in our films learn to redefine success.
We were alive during the 'Battle of the Sexes', but that story hadn't really been told.
There's something about somebody's first screenplay: it's like their whole life experience has kind of been bottled into it. They bring so much richness to it. And not that they won't do that for their next script, but there is something about their first experience and the time that it's been floating in their head.
Some scripts you feel like everything is precious.
It's hard to get the right elements together, get the right cast, get them at the time you need them, get the script completely there, and get the right budget.
One of the great things about shooting in Los Angeles is you have access to all these great performers. We love working with ensembles, and that process of getting a great group of people together and setting them in motion.
If we don't have the actors, or you get the sense that some of the other people involved in making the movie don't necessarily see the movie the way you see it - all those elements, for us, we like having those things feel like they're moving in the same direction.
I like being able to talk about work while we're making dinner. I'd rather discuss it at that moment while it's fresh.
When you study a character, when you're making a film, you want to understand the character: like, what makes them tick?
Like 'TRL' was kind of fun - Oh, there's a new video!
Comedy writing is the hardest, and yet there's so much that's relatable in it.
I love it when I see somebody else make a great film. I think there is a great supportive film community, even though the awards seem to do something weird to that.
I love small films, and I love films being seen in a theater. I love film, and unfortunately, that's being phased out.
'Ruby Sparks' has been sold like a romcom in the States. But we never saw it like that.
Our marriage has survived because we do things we love.
I don't watch 'MTV'. Our sons watch 'Jersey Shore' sometimes. I walk through the room, and I get disgusted, and I leave, and I give them a hard time about it.
There's an amazing movie called 'Los Angeles Plays Itself.'
