|
Interview with Spike Lee (SL) conducted by Nasser Metcalfe (NM)
- NM
- Do black films tend to get enough support from studios when it comes to promotion or do you think
they kind of set them up to fail?
- SL
- Well, I don't think they set them up to fail. A lot of them feel that [they should] try to get as
much money as possible with spending as little as possible. I think the battle has to be that the
range has to be broadened on the types of black films that are made. It's only a particular type of black
film that the studios are going to finance today.
- NM
- So how realistic do you think it is that we will one day have an entity powerful enough to actually
distribute our own films?
- SL
- Well, I think distribution is a very hard nut to crack. So we should get there, but there are
several steps we need to get before distribution, like financing. I mean right now there is no
better distribution system than the one Hollywood has set up. So I don't want to put the cart before
the horse. We need to find alternative means of getting our films financed. Get on the Bus was
financed outside of Hollywood. Some African-American men came together and financed that film, we
sold it to Columbia Pictures and they financed it. I think the first step is to try and get a source of
funding so we can make films.
|
