I have ten commandments. The first nine are, thou shalt not bore. The tenth is, thou shalt have right of final cut.
Interpretation
This quote humorously emphasizes the importance of engaging storytelling and creative control in filmmaking.
Billy Wilder's quote highlights the essential elements of captivating an audience and maintaining creative authority. By stating that the first nine commandments revolve around avoiding boredom, he underscores the need for entertainment and engagement in film, while the final commandment stresses the importance of having the ultimate say in editing and presentation, which ensures the filmmaker's vision is preserved.
In practice
This quote would be perfect to use during a filmmaking workshop to emphasize the significance of audience engagement.
Film’s thought of as a director’s medium because the director creates the end product that appears on the screen. It’s that stupid auteur theory again, that the director is the author of the film. But what does the director shoot-the telephone book? Writers became much more important when sound came in, but they’ve had to put up a valiant fight to get the credit they deserve.
What critics call dirty in our pictures, they call lusty in foreign films.
Happiness is working with Jack Lemmon.
Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.
I'd worship the ground you walked on if only you walked in a better neighborhood.
He has Van Gogh's ear for music.
You can start any 'Monty Python' routine and people finish it for you. Everyone knows it like shorthand.
Jack: Actually, I was found. Lady Bracknell: Found? Jack: Uh, yes, I was in... a handbag. Lady Bracknell: A handbag? Jack: Yes, it was... [makes gestures] Jack: an ordinary handbag.
Laughter is a force for democracy.
Humorists can never start to take themselves seriously. It's literary suicide.
I think the best comedians have that bravery and courage to say, 'This is what it is. This is unfair; that's not cool.'
My sense of humor has saved me more than a couple of times in my life.
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