If I get a note on my script or my films, what I say to a studio executive is that, ‘You know, this is the film of my legacy, and I never want to be sitting in a theater looking up on the screen and seeing something that I don’t believe in.’ I will never do that. Gina Prince-Bythewood Read Quote
There are a lot of aspects of filmmaking that I love, but one of my favorites is in post, finding the right song for the right moment. Gina Prince-Bythewood Read Quote
Beyond the Lights’ took incredible fight to get made. Four years of writing and two years of overcoming ‘no.’ Every studio balked. Twice. But I kept fighting. What gave me the courage was ‘Love & Basketball.’ Every studio turned down that film, too. But I never gave up because I believed in it with my whole heart and soul. Gina Prince-Bythewood Read Quote
I write to music, and Nina Simone is always on my playlist to write to. I mean, she’s inspiring. She’s truthful and real and raw. Gina Prince-Bythewood Read Quote
I don’t want people to go to a film of mine because they feel guilty, like, ‘I have to support it because there’s black folks in there.’ I want them to go because it’s a good movie. Gina Prince-Bythewood Read Quote
Beyond the Lights’ was my fourth film. I gained a lot of knowledge, and I’m excited to share that with young filmmakers because I know how lost I was coming out of film school with that question of ‘What’s next?’ Gina Prince-Bythewood Read Quote
There’s a great deal of women in film school. I was not the only woman in my class at UCLA. When I went through the Sundance program, it was half women and half men. Gina Prince-Bythewood Read Quote
There is a perception within our community and the world that black people don’t love each other. That we don’t fight for each other. That perception is so dangerous. We need positive images to counter the negative portrayals we see every day. And positive doesn’t mean perfect. Perfect is boring. Gina Prince-Bythewood Read Quote
I love movies. And I dig a great love story: the kind that wrecks me, then builds me back up and leaves me inspired. I write what I want to see. Gina Prince-Bythewood Read Quote
Out of Sight’ is one of my favorite films ever. Love Steven Soderbergh. ‘Goodfellas’ was a huge influence on me in terms of the use of camera. ‘Black Orpheus,’ a beautiful love story that very few people actually have seen, and that was an influence on ‘Beyond the Lights,’ too, in terms of the look of the film. Gina Prince-Bythewood Read Quote
