One of the reasons the producers' credit has been so weakened in recent years, and given to people who didn't deserve it, was that people didn't understand what producers did. Marshall Herskovitz More Quotes by Marshall Herskovitz More Quotes From Marshall Herskovitz Producers are now employees, not creators. Marshall Herskovitz creator employee producers Even those who don't believe in climate change believe we should develop renewable energy. Americans get it: it's time. This is not controversial. It's actually right in the wheelhouse of American business. Marshall Herskovitz climate energy believe Hey, if I had my choice for social engineering, I'd declare an automatic R-rating for any movie that depicts television commercials. There's a truly dangerous influence on our children. Marshall Herskovitz television-commercials engineering children The pilot system in television is utterly broken. It's a huge waste of money. Marshall Herskovitz pilots broken television The world is filled with terrible things that can influence children, and movies have depicted them since time immemorial. Should every terrible thing warrant an R-rating? Marshall Herskovitz influence children world The producer is at the center of entertainment. The producer is being forgotten, and producers must seize the center of activity. Marshall Herskovitz entertainment producers forgotten You always have to remember in this business that the public doesn't care about us. It's very important to keep that in mind. If there is a public perception at all, they see the producer as a big old guy who smokes a cigar and has lots of money and lots of power. That's not what a producer is and, if it ever was what a producer was, it certainly hasn't been for a long time. Marshall Herskovitz guy mind long The vast majority of our film producers are independent producers who live hand to mouth trying to get projects made that they love. They are not owners, they're not money people, and in fact, those who just have the money don't always get a producer credit. Marshall Herskovitz independent trying people I would say the producer is the person who is there from the beginning to the end of the project. Either the person who creates, generates, or discovers the project, the person who performs many of the functions that are necessary to getting that project to the point where it is financed and then where it is in production, finished, marketed and released. Marshall Herskovitz producers It's very hard to make a living as a producer these days. The reality of the business is the studios have cut way back on overall deals for producers and cut way back on development. The fee for developing a project has not changed for 20 years, and a producer can't live on it. Marshall Herskovitz changed cutting reality Our business,The Producers Guild, has a good record in some areas, and a bad record in others. There are many well-intentioned people trying to change things. The Producers Guild has been committed to this for years now, and I think personally does more than any other guild to give opportunities to people who come from outside of, I guess you'd call it, the expected avenues for advancement. Marshall Herskovitz opportunity people thinking It's interesting: I went 25 years without watching a single television show. I was one of those people, because I was so inside how a television show was made, if I would turn on somebody else's show, I would sit there and analyze it, like, 'Oh, so they had four hours in this location and had to get out and the number of set-ups, etc.' Marshall Herskovitz inside single people television Hollywood is the perfect conduit for the urgent message about climate change. We raise awareness all the time. We routinely take a film that nobody knows about and get 80 percent of the public to know about it in just 30 days. That's called marketing. We need to harvest Hollywood for climate change awareness. Marshall Herskovitz nobody climate-change change time After I graduated from Brandeis, I took all the money I had in the world, which was $5,000, and I made a short film. I made every mistake you could possibly make. It was a total disaster as a piece of work, and yet, you know, it was ambitious in some way. Marshall Herskovitz you money mistake work For reasons we don't have to get into, climate change has become an incredibly polarized issue in the United States. I think that is sad. My own personal view is that we're in a planetary emergency such has not been seen in 600,000 years. Marshall Herskovitz view climate-change sad change In my personal belief, the big problem with climate change is getting people to understand the magnitude and scale that we're dealing with. If you buy a vehicle that gets 35 miles to the gallon, that means nothing; it's not enough. We need to make changes across society and in every piece of the energy pie. Marshall Herskovitz you climate-change change people The notion that moving toward renewable energy will kill jobs is an absurdity on its face. The notion that we have to live smaller lifestyles; not have the American way of life or give up the American Dream is just ridiculous. It is the opposite of the case; a new energy paradigm will create opportunity. Marshall Herskovitz face american-dream opportunity life Our founding fathers could not have foreseen that freedom of the press might eventually be threatened just as much by media consolidation as by government. Marshall Herskovitz just freedom media government Remember: the ratings system is a voluntary infringement of First Amendment rights, an uneasy bargain between the needs of parents, the needs of artists, and the needs of large media corporations to make profits. Any time we chip away at the First Amendment, we should at least do it with some reverence. Marshall Herskovitz parents media time remember Even the most brilliant accomplishments on the Internet are essentially cold. Google has changed the world, but you don't snuggle up to it. YouTube is a giant carnival, filled with freaks and mountebanks, a place to gawk and laugh and get bored. Certainly not a place to feel anything. Marshall Herskovitz laugh you internet world
