76 Quotes by Debbie Allen

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.