Lynda Obst Quotes

There is a fine line between perseverance and madness.

I think there are always actor parts, and then there are movie-star parts, and an actors always an actor until he does a movie-star part.

No single movie or event makes or breaks your career. Everything can be undone, including success.

Self-love knows no impediment.

My sense of Los Angeles was very New York provincial, as in 'all those people are crazy out there' (which they are), and stupid (which they're not), and immoral (it's more interesting than that).

Like the color black, business mixed with anything turns to business.

My goal has been to learn how to get movies made without losing sight of the reasons I began. I have had to learn to recognize the insidious nature of the beast without becoming one.

Directing is the last frontier for women in the movie business. We are studio heads, we are producers and we are writers, but we are not directors in any numbers.

[On filmmaking:] Cardinal rule: It's a youth business.

The lack of women directors is a sad fact of life. Kathryn Bigelows thrilling Best Director win may help turn things around.

Every single one of us who has been a Woman in Film for more than five minutes is sick of the phrase Women in Film.

Everything can be undone, including success.

Love and friendship, two of life's abiding rewards, are endangered species in Hollywood. People crave both, mistaking alliance for friendship, lust for love, and ambition for both.

nerve, not talent, is the one necessary and sufficient trait for success. (Wouldn't it be ideal if it were talent? But talent with no nerve is like the sound of one hand clapping.

Always remember the famous adage about the movie business: You can't make a living, you can only get rich.

Ego problems are endemic in every walk of life, but in the movie business egomaniacs are megalomaniacs.

The only way I can access all my strength is to relax. ... The paradox is that you must learn to be relaxed while using all your power.

It is just as important to move on in the wake of stunning success as in the wake of disaster.

Breakthroughs, in art, in culture, in personality, come when tackling the unexpected.

What turns a work crisis into a life crisis is the infusion of dread.

In most fields of endeavor there are no easy jobs; there are only graceful ways of performing difficult ones.

When I was starting out, the first women studio heads and writers were just getting into their perches - development execs learning their chops.

with all these tentpoles, franchises, reboots and sequels, is there still room for movies in the movie business?

Information is currency. ... Power is a place as well as a verb; it is inside the information tent.