Will Packer

“When you come into the industry as an outsider, you need to have an entrepreneurial spirit to succeed. In Hollywood, it's very clear that you either play by the rules or make up your own. And I wanted to do it my way.”

“When I was a kid, my parents never let me use race as an excuse. They'd say, 'When you walk into a room and it's all white, those kids have to work to stand out, not you.'”

“People that I know, the vast majority, who are successful work really, really hard. Sure, there's some people that either get lucky or inherited it or don't have to work hard for some reason, but the vast majority who are successful work really, really hard.”

“I definitely want make an impact in television. I want to make a continued and greater impact in feature films, and I want to be somebody who continues to be at the forefront of creating a wide variety of content that I could be proud of and that engages people on all levels.”

“When people have options for what they want to see, it forces the quality of programming and content to be higher.”

“I had no intention of being a film producer, and I knew I wasn't passionate about engineering. I was always set on having my own business, controlling my own destiny.”

“I really feel like the sky is the limit. I'm a dreamer, and I dream in full vivid color HD.”

“We need more filmmakers of color telling the story. I'd like to see more filmmakers take their products out independently, put together a good commercial film and distribute it online.”

“There's nothing more important than having a personal connection with your audience.”

“I'm always going to go up against movies with bigger muscle and money, so I need to have a strong grass-roots game.”

“I'm excited about my own network, BounceTV. It's the first African-American-owned broadcast network. It's myself, my partner Rob Hardy, and some other African-American businessmen, including Andrew Young and Martin Luther King III.”