Debbie Allen Quotations

The riot isn't seen in the movie, but it is alluded to. He has this one speech that gives a great sense of texture and paints a picture of what was happening in Harlem then.

You have to examine a scene on the page first. Then you get into the basics of acting: Who are you? Who are you talking to? How do you feel about that person?

In scoring we have a lot that was not evident in the shooting. The radio is on all the time.

It's kind of dangerous to cut in the camera, but that's the only way I know how to direct.

I didn't need the insurance. I do it again if my DP tells me it didn't look good in the camera or if the actors didn't hit their marks. But if everything was working why do it again?

A director just pushes them a little this way or that way.

There are some scenes that work beautifully in a moving, sweeping master, which is how I like to work.

Time management is a big part of the director's job.

Michael Ralph brilliantly plays the street prophet, a West Indian who foreshadows the Harlem riot.

I got my dailies every day, although I couldn't always look at them because I was usually preparing for the next day's shoot, both as an actress and as the director.

Making this movie was a great opportunity for me to explore high-definition. I'm glad I got to see what the challenges are, what makes it better. It works wonderfully.

It goes back to a style of moviemaking I remember seeing as a child, in movies like The Man With The Golden Arm, which I think was shot all on a sound stage.

The clothes back in those days were made so much better than clothes are today. They actually took time to make clothes to fit a woman's body. Today they make clothes that fit sizes, so it stretches to fit this and that.

But it was not possible to do this movie, in this matter of time, without a solid rehearsal period.

Everything has to be well thought out - what do you really need, when can you do with less coverage.

The radio for these women is like television is for us today, which is really like looking at the radio.

I use something that is a real staple in the directing world. It's called a dance floor. You lay it down so that it's so smooth you can roll around, and you can put furniture on top of it. It's seamless and you don't see it.

The biggest challenge was that we had to shoot so quickly and with such a limited budget.

I design my shots. I walk the rehearsal as the camera and say 'this is where I want to be... I want this look.

Even when you have a big budget, you can't just shoot everything.

That's the only way I can control my movie. If you shoot everything, then everything is liable to end up in the movie. If you have a vision, you don't have to cover every scene.

The production team's first meeting took place at my house. I had ideas and a color scheme in mind, how I wanted the movie to look, because that has to be a real collaboration.

As far as pacing the shoot is concerned, I know when I've got it. I don't think there's any reason to take ten takes unless you need them.

I basically shoot the movie the way I think it should be cut, so my directives to the editor are in the camera.

I actually did a film called Stompin' at the Savoy,about four women who worked as domestics and were trying to get out of that life and into a better one.

We could have done this movie very differently had we shot on the streets of Harlem and taken a 40-day shooting schedule.

I've had a lot of experience auditioning people, and I can do it rather quickly even though sometimes I let them linger and give them time, but I kind of know after I see them do a couple of steps. I know.

Self-checkout is negative because more and more retailers are losing the personal touch. People want to do business where people know their name and communicate with them. With a world full of email and more self-service we will begin to start seeking out the basics from retailers who create emotion. There is not emotion out of self-service and most people buy out of emotion.

As one who loves literature, art, music and history, I've been deeply rooted in the Harlem Renaissance for many years.

There are so many famous people now that are not really gifted or talented at doing anything other than getting made up, putting on tight dresses, acting badly, getting married. I mean, what the hell? I don't know where we are going with this here in America. And we are setting a tone for the world, because everyone looks at what we do.

The first thing that goes into shooting a scene is understanding whats on the page.

There was a time when fame meant that you were either someone who is really gifted in your field or you were making an impact or you are famous because you were a really horrible person, you know? But now, you can become famous by eating a frog. It's just not the same thing.

Fame is fleeting, honey. Fame is fleeting and it changes.

I think a good director casts a film so that the actors bring a lot to the table.

If you just change one person's life, you feel like you've done something. But if you can change a whole lot of them and get them looking at themselves differently, it's amazing.

I'm always moving forward.

Be true. Be beautiful. Be free. In the midst of segregation and racism Mamma raised us to be independent and free. We saw ourselves as citizens of the world, not of a block.

I'm driven by passion. I mean, I am tired right now. I work to a point of abandon. I am fueled by my understanding of the need for self-expression that exists for young people.

In places in the world where we don't speak the same language, or even understand that we pray to the same God, we dance to the same beat, that is the ONE.

Failure: Is it a limitation? Bad timing? It's a lot of things. It's something you can't be afraid of, because you'll stop growing. The next step beyond failure could be your biggest success in life.

But out of limitations comes creativity.

The screenwriter's role was very instrumental, because it's difficult to take a stage play and adapt it for the screen.

(Self-checkout is) negative because more and more retailers are losing the personal touch. People want to do business where people know their name and communicate with them. With a world full of email and more self-service we will begin to start seeking out the basics from retailers who create emotion. There is not emotion out of self-service and most people buy out of emotion.

You want fame? ... Well, fame costs. And right here is where you start paying. With sweat.

The upside is that high-definition is a lot cheaper and a lot faster.

They had a clear idea about what I really wanted to see, based on our initial conversations, and they did a great job.

There was no question about who should play Lou Bessie. Crystal Fox brought to the role something that was really needed.

There was too much to absorb. So we had about an 8-day rehearsal, a lot for a movie of this nature.

There were some scenes where I took ten takes and there were some where I took one.

There's always a certain degree of physical attraction between people and the rest either happens or it doesn't.

It's rare to find parts where you see two women who relate to each other in that very natural way, with a lot of humor and pathos at the same time.

Then you give your actors broad strokes based on what your idea is for what is going on in the room and the circumstances surrounding it.

I loved that they were real people living in the time of the Harlem Renaissance. The story was rich with culture and character.

I'm respectful of other artists and I think there is a way to talk to actors to let them know they are making this. It all has to come through them.

I owe a lot to the Brainerd legacy for my accomplishments. My pledge to you and my mother is to come here in the spring and have theater arts across the field of Brainerd. I have a commitment to this project, these grounds and what Brainerd is about.

I owe a lot to the Brainerd legacy for my accomplishments, ... My pledge to you and my mother is to come here in the spring and have theater arts across the field of Brainerd. I have a commitment to this project, these grounds and what Brainerd is about.

In the film world you don't often get much rehearsal time. Only on big-budget films do you have the opportunity to rehearse for a week or two.

In today's competitive marketplace, you can't afford to be humble.

I attended the event in Napa in July and it was amazing, so when we heard about this one, we had to sign up. I'm going to keep coming back.

The first thing that goes into shooting a scene is understanding what's on the page.

The look of the movie has a kind a muted tone to it at first, and then we introduce color to it as we go along.