Penelope Spheeris Quotes
The first Decline I did was out of sheer love and appreciation for the music. In 1977, it was more about bands, because punk was a new form of music. It was groundbreaking and political.
I actually picked up copies of Decline I and II at a flea market once. I walked out without paying.
For the most part, studio movies have huge budgets. They don't do anything under 30 to 40 million. When you have that much money at stake, you have so many people breathing down your neck.
Those movies, Decline I and II and Suburbia, are dearly loved, but they never made any money. I didn't even have the rights for some of them.
Before you approach a production entity or even a potential producer, you should write up a treatment and register your show with the Writers Guild of America.
Decline III, I funded myself, from the studio money. That, and I sold a lot of drugs. Kidding. Don't print that.
Arnold and Jamie Lee must have worked over the years with directors that did 50 takes, because I'd get like three takes or so and say, Ok, that's it, we're done.
I really feel kind of guilty spending 80 million dollars. People are starving in the world.
I was always into music. I think everyone is when they're a teenager, as a way to drown out the world.
I like to think about society as being a flock of birds: There seems to be a common consciousness in different time periods, and the new common consciousness reacts to the old standards.
If you are looking for a producer, try to contact established producers. Don't let the fear of theft paralyze you, or you will never get anywhere with it.
It is fun to try figure out the things that really are real and the things that aren't.
Many people have been able to get pitch meetings by just cold calling, especially the smaller networks and especially with the reality shows.
My mother was a barmaid and I was raised in a trailer park. I'm used to that language. I put it on the screen so that people could interpret it as they wish.
