- When you're working at a studio, where it's nice and comfortable, there's no pain and in my mind no short gain. Bottom line is that the greatest feeling in the world is when you make a movie that you know is good and plays unusually well. That's an emotional home run.
- You need money to make movies. If we become stupid - and we have at many times done dumb things, which I take full responsibility for - we lose money. Yet on balance, we make money.
- Other places give you money to make the movie and you give away your cut. Hell, if I'm gonna live that way, I might as well go work with a studio. This is a self-lubricating machine. We have our own old money.
- The one word that separates an independent production company from all others is risk.
- I have a real problem with having debt. I hate it.
- We've spent a lot of time developing projects and getting them ready for production, so we have the product in our pipeline. Now it's time for me to concentrate on the overall growth of the Morgan Creek group.
- Money is "nothing more than stuff. It's inventory, it's what I need, it's what we use to make movies with.
- I've yet to take $1 out of this company in profits.
- No matter how much you spend, you still have outdated buildings, I want a studio where the air conditioning actually works, and where actors can take an elevator from make-up and be right in front of the camera.
- To me, movies are a great business to be in financially. All the skills that I have developed have all come together. Making movies is management, taste, visual. There are a lot of things that come together when you're making movies. I really worked and studied the business, I was determined not to go into the business, like so many other people, and leave considerably lighter; I was determined not to lose money.
- Morgan Creek has not stayed with any particular genre. We're all over the place. Frankly, I find that enjoyable. And challenging; just when you have a system worked out, we jump to something else.
- [on him and Joe Roth naming their studio "Morgan Creek": We wanted an American name, something that was very American and something that involved a well-known American director. 'Morgan Creek' is as American as you can get. You never hear the word 'creek' anywhere else in the world.
- I love Baltimore, I'd make all my movies here if I could. It all comes down to a matter of cost. If it was close, maybe a difference of a million between filming here and somewhere else, I would always choose Baltimore.
- Everything I've done is risky, But I felt that if we kept a lid on costs, and we put out a good film, people would come.
- I was always out there working, hustling, doing stuff.
- In 1988, network sales could make or break a decision to make a movie, Foreign sales were like nickels and dimes; they only represented 15% of the budget. I believed - and I believe - there will always be a demand for material, for product.
- When I got into the business, you could do six-to-one write-offs: You could have $1 at risk and write off $6, so you couldn't lose money. That all changed in the Tax Reform Act of 1986. But I also saw an opportunity (in that act). I said, 'Well, hell, there won't be many people jumping in and throwing money at films now.' And there weren't.
- I have no problems dealing with guys that are smart and talented, I got problems dealing with people that are bogus; I got problems dealing with people that are more concerned with their image than their art. For me, it is all about the art of the movie.
- There were people out there who had deals with the studios but didn't have any immediate financing, and I would finance (their films), I didn't come walking into town and say, 'I want to be in this business.
- [on Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991): I did not know how well it would do, but I knew it was a good movie.
- The only way you can ever do a fast-track movie is to have one captain, one person who's got the big picture, We had a director who was magnificent and mad, his own worst enemy - very, very talented man, very likable guy. But (he) was like a guy who did a great painting and then threw it in the fireplace.
- I am more satisfied with the company now (2007) than I have been in 10 years, I will keep trying to make it better.
- And there may be 300 people who are sitting in there saying "Hey, that's my picture", cause every people believes it's their picture and rightfully it is, because everyone, that's a collaborative effort, that movie came about because of one person. It's a lot of fun and it's permanent, it's permanent, it's forever.
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