What Filmmakers Need To Know About Financing Movies by Spike Lee

spike what are your general rules for

raising money for films i mean what do

you advise your nyu students when the

subject comes up what kind of guidance

do you provide them

well

i've been teaching nyu for the

past 15 years and

the issue is

whether you're in film school or not

film school

where you get the money to shoot

where you get the money

to for completion to finish your film

and i tell people you just have to be

inventive and you look under every nook

and cranny

to

[Music]

get it done it's not just not there's

nothing i could tell somebody

that's gonna be like the golden trail

and you're gonna find a pot of gold

you know at the end is that's just not

the way this industry works

so there's no set road map but i'm

wondering is there a certain mindset

are there certain characteristics

whether they're

temperament whatever that you tell

someone

um well i think that when you wanna when

you're looking for money you have to

have uh

that be tough as tough as nails and not

be uh

deterred by nose

all it takes is that one person that one

grant

that one scholarship

you know money

can show up

can fall out of the sky sometimes i mean

that's nothing something that that you

have to wait for

one of my

one of my own

most favorite quotes is by

brooklyn dodger owner branch ricky who

signed jackie robinson

and the quota says

luck is a residue of design

so

if you're working and busting your ass

you have a better chance of luck

smiling down upon you

but you're just chilling

and not extending any injury excuse me

not extending any energy

don't get it from go

you're not we're not seeing that elbow

grease

we're not seeing initiative

we're not seeing that blood sweat and

tears

very rarely will

you find yourself in a lucky situation

speaking of ways but you can't depend on

luck though

you can't depend on luck i've been very

lucky

uh

be honest when i decide when we

filmmaker there was only one

african-american director working

hollywood his name was michael schultz

directed one of my favorite films cooley

high

and so when i would tell

my afro-american friends

you know

they're like

the black people

they let black people direct films

and so i never ever

thought about the odds

a lot of times you think about stuff

like that it could be a

self-inflicted paralysis

but uh i knew i wanted to do

and

i was

committed

that

through hard work

god willing

something will break my way and it

happened

you