Rick Famuyiwa

“In many ways, a teaser trailer these days has just become a short version of the full-length trailer, as opposed to something that grabs you and teases you and makes you go, 'Whoa, what is this?'”

“As a black man working in the business, it's a challenge sometimes to get some of these things and these stories told when they don't quite fit in a box or convention of what people expect of you or what you should be telling.”

“When I first started working on 'The Wood,' these people couldn't grasp the concept that, one, there is a black middle class, and, two, Inglewood is a part of it.”

“I always wanted to make a coming-of-age film, or something about growing up, like 'The Wonder Years,' 'Stand By Me' or 'Diner.'”

“I think the trick is to understand that universal isn't defined by a singular way of being. We don't have to somehow accept universal as being middle class, or white, or whatever it may be.”

“For me, I think of 'Dope' as an album. There may be a love song and there may be a party song, but it's all coming from one artist.”

“I don't like the term 'black film,' and I am proud to be black.”

“Media has become a way that we think about our history. And the media moments are, for better or worse, how we contextualize our history.”

“I think we've now gotten to this point where we're growing more and more distrustful of our institutions, be they government or corporations or otherwise.”

“All films are a challenge and they are a harder challenge when dealing with characters of color.”

“I grew up on Spielberg and Lucas. That was sort of what inspired me to make movies.”

“We're a country of many different cultures, and that's always what has made this country stand out. It almost feels like making diverse movies is the most American thing you can do.”

“I was fortunate to write pretty much a year out of film school and start making movies in the Hollywood studio system. But with each progressive film it became more frustrating not being able to speak and say things I wanted to say.”

“I've always felt that 'Dope' is a big movie in a little package.”

“We don't discuss race, so just the discussion of race has become racist. We've been trained that it's such a lightning rod that we don't even want to say the word.”

“We'll always be re-examining how we relate to each other in terms of race and gender, in terms of power and access.”

“'The Wood' was sort of like 'American Graffiti' for me in a lot of different ways.”

“Love stories happen in communities outside of just the Upper West Side of Manhattan.”

“It would have been more comfortable for us as a society if Anita Hill wasn't as intelligent, poised, and credible as she was.”

“When I wrote 'High Stakes,' I followed the classical format. I wrote an outline first, then a first draft, then got feedback and rewrote and rewrote it. I'd never done that before.”