Dee Rees

Creatively, most of my influences come from the literary world: Alice Walker, Toni Cade Bambara. Writers are my heroes. ”

My ultimate dream was just to be an auteur. ”

I was going to study business administration at Florida A&M, at the height of Reaganomics. ”

For me, 'Pariah' is very much about that inner churn. It's about this person's emotional inner life, and that's really what I wanted to bring to 'Bessie.' ”

To have a simultaneous global audience as an artist is more than you could ever hope for. ”

The best thing in the world is to put two characters who hate each other side by side. Or put two people who love each other far away, so they have to reach for each other with their looks. ”

I started out at Procter & Gamble marketing panty liners, so basically selling women insecurity. I thought there must be more to life than this. Then I was on set for a Dr. Scholl's commercial, and I asked one of the execs, 'How do you get a job behind the camera?' and he said, 'Film school.' So I quit and applied to NYU. ”

I thought I'd get an MBA, and then I could be anything. And I'd write on the side. That was the idea. ”

As long as you tell the best story possible, you can trust that people will be able to connect to it. ”

The only advice I can give is to surround yourself with people who are friends and people who believe in you and your material and who are going to help you take it to the next level. It doesn't mean you don't listen to criticism, but you listen to it and edit it, and you figure out what you can take. ”