We decided that a dark comedy had the best possible chance of remaining in the minds of the viewers and also gave us the opportunity to use the complexity of these kind of financial activities almost as a joke, almost as the setup for a punchline, it's a very troubling time but speaking about it is the beginning, people have been speaking about it for quite a while but on occasion a piece of entertainment can be a conversation starter and get people wondering day to day 'in my everyday life how am I participating in this'.

Steven Soderbergh

Categorized in : Company News

I recently decided that I'm not an originator. I'm a synthesist.

Steven Soderbergh

decided

The traditional models for success are just also disappearing.

Steven Soderbergh

traditional disappear models

I find myself in situations a lot where I have to say to someone, "This can be better," and it's hard to say that.

Steven Soderbergh

hard situation

I think the feeling that we're going to work together again usually starts to come up before the first project's even done. The Black Keys and I have already talked about starting on something new.

Steven Soderbergh

together-again keys thinking

You can't change who you are, so I think that the only thing you can do is just never talk to people about stuff and then hope that maybe does something.

Steven Soderbergh

doe people thinking

If I'm a director and I read a script and I say yeah I really want to do this, I would never walk away because the deal wasn't very good - that I wasn't getting paid very much or that the chances that I would see anything on the back end were remote because of the financial waterfall and the way it's structured. I would never use that as a reason not to do something.

Steven Soderbergh

use want directors

I'm a big believer that if there's something you really want to do, don't walk away because of the deal.

Steven Soderbergh

deals bigs want

I think there are only two times that I've ever ended up paying somebody their quote. Like what they actually were worth in the marketplace.

Steven Soderbergh

marketplace two thinking

All human interaction, you can break it down to incentives. All relationships, at some level, are transactional. They're fascinated with incentives.

Steven Soderbergh

incentives levels break

When we look at what's going on in the world and we see the immense level of conflict that seems to always be happening - you can always trace it back to competing narratives.

Steven Soderbergh

levels looks world

I think about art a lot only in two contexts. One is narrative... The other thing that I'm interested in, which is tangential, but not unrelated... All art to me is about problem solving.

Steven Soderbergh

two art thinking

My working life is me doing what I want to do. This is that. I've made movies that people don't go to see.

Steven Soderbergh

life-is want people

I'm always a little unnerved when I see a show that's set in the past that implies in any way that things were nicer then.

Steven Soderbergh

littles way past

I don't have any kind of ideology that precludes me from moving in one direction or another. I just want creative autonomy and I want at least an opportunity that it's going to be seen.

Steven Soderbergh

one-direction opportunity moving

If you're going to make a movie for ten thousand you can talk everybody into doing it for free. You could make a really good-looking movie right for ten grand, if you have an idea.

Steven Soderbergh

looking-good thousand ideas

Never done an explosion, but I have had explosive diarrhea, and that was very, very real. Good thing I have my trailer.

Steven Soderbergh

good-things done real

The best set was probably 'Bloody Sunday.' We had no money for extras and gambled on months of outreach to persuade the people of Derry to turn out and march for us on one single afternoon. And they did. In their tens of thousands. Seeing them march, their patience and their dignity and their commitment, I knew the movie would have a quality of truth.

Steven Soderbergh

sunday people commitment

Once I had a potentially heart attack-inducing eight double espressos in one day. I think my assistant secretly swaps my coffees for decaf as she doesn't want me to die of caffeine overdose.

Steven Soderbergh

coffee heart thinking

I've tried to get better about weighing what I think the accessibility of an idea is against the cost of executing it. I've tried to be smarter about that, because if you're not smart about that, you're going to be unemployed. But I'm still mystified about what works for people. And I'm not talking about my movies, I'm talking in general. I'm mystified by the stuff that doesn't work. I'm mystified by what's going on in the critical side, too.

Steven Soderbergh

smart talking thinking

Usually I'm thinking about the palette. I'm thinking about the color for the most part, then I'll start thinking about composition and movement.

Steven Soderbergh

movement color thinking