Top 50 Reed Morano Quotes

We moved around every winter. I don’t know. Maybe my dad was, like, on the run from the law.

When I read ‘Meadowland,’ I could see the potential for a very internal, quiet story that could be powerful and emotional but also disturbing and dark.

‘Meadowland’ was the reason I got ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’ and probably my experience in cinematography helped. Everything was like a stepping stone to the next thing.

It’s a very tricky job we have as DPs, where you are expected to make something that really is an emotional art but also needs to be technically spot on. You’re often given a very small window of time to achieve it. People sometimes expect it to be even quicker and forget that there’s a schedule for a reason.

After graduating, I was shooting as well as working as a key grip, and I often found myself the only female out of the whole crew, except for producers and the occasional AC.

I have a playlist for every project that I do. I made one for ‘Handmaid’ before I got the job.

The instant feeling I had after I gave birth was you couldn’t get that baby in my hands fast enough.

We’re too complacent. We let things happen to us. And you don’t have to let things happen to you. You can affect change.

My dreams are like fuzzy Charlie Kaufman movies, so I love going to sleep.

I want to make the movies that move people in a way they’ve never been moved before.

I feel like directing is more about who the individual is rather than if they’re a man or a woman. It’s kind of hard to generalize and group all of us female filmmakers into one group, like we’re all going provide you with the same thing, because we’re not. We’re all individuals.

I think it’s a common misconception that because you’re a woman, you can’t command a set and have people respect you, and for some reason, Hollywood is really far behind every other industry. It’s getting better; it’s just slow.

The way I’m used to telling a story is by looking through the viewfinder and being really close to the actors.

I do think it’s unfair for women who get pegged with creating fare for other women.

In everything I do, the aesthetics are driven by the emotion. However I can do that with a camera, whether it’s a long lens or a wide lens, I’ll do.

Women have to compensate more in the personality department in order to get the things that men get. And they don’t have as much leeway for being divas or jerks.

I have been lucky in getting a lot of the projects I’ve wanted, maybe because I’m really, really driven. But there is a stigma that women can’t direct big studio films. Not that I want to do that, but it is a topic that comes up a lot.

I was in film school as an undergrad with a focus on directing. Once I started working on shoots, I realized, ‘Oh, I really like this cinematography thing.’

I think I subconsciously knew you needed life experience to direct, and the best films are directed by people who have really lived, with exceptions like Orson Welles, who just burst out of the gate. There are prodigies like that, but for me, personally, I thought I needed life experience.

What’s the hardest thing about making a show like ‘Vinyl’ or ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ is they are expecting movie-level cinematic quality in every way – from the performances to the visuals and the shots – especially on a show where you are doing Scorsese style.

In America, we tend to be very sheltered, and I’m speaking from personal experience because I feel sheltered.

I love strong women like Uma Thurman, Meryl Streep, and Charlize Theron.

Being a cinematographer taught me a lot. I got to expedite the visions of many directors and learned how to navigate many styles and worlds.

Most of the people I know in the film business here in New York, the moms and the dads, just take different turns working. So everybody’s a working parent, and nobody bats an eyelash at it.

Huge studio movies are handed over to a man with less experience before they’re handed over to a woman with less experience. That’s a fact. But I think it’s not just about men not hiring women: it’s about women not hiring women, too.

A lot of people who are in charge in Hollywood are women, so they have the power. Now, I’ve met a lot of these amazing women who are offering opportunities to other women, and they’re awesome. But for the women who maybe haven’t done that yet, it’s like, why?

I would rather be hired solely for my talent, not just to fill a quota. I also don’t want to shoot just any studio movie just to say I’m shooting studio movies – for me, quality of the material comes first, and if eventually that leads to a really great studio project, then that’s a bonus.

A lot of male cinematographers stick a pillow to their stomachs so they have somewhere to rest their elbows while shooting.

In TV, you are much more likely to see the episode closer to the script as written – in terms of the order of the scenes – than you would in a movie, and here’s why: you don’t have as many days to edit. You have 10 to 12 weeks or more to edit a feature, and you have four days to edit TV. That’s a huge difference.

There are a lot of women who direct in a way that is even more masculine sometimes than men – and that’s not a bad thing, either.

I learned a lot while I was ACing and gripping for other DPs as I was coming up.

I don’t want to just make the safe, easy commercial films.

Whenever a woman wields a gun in a film, it ends up looking like they’re trying to be sexy rather than they actually know what they’re doing.

A lot of cinematography is intuition. It’s an art, not a formula.

I know how a cinematographer wants to be treated by their director, and so I already have a leg up in that department, and I know what would be insulting to say to a DP because I’ve been one for so long.

Ultimately, the idea of being able to escape and lose myself in a new world every time I go to ‘work’ was too appealing to ignore.

Don’t think of your gender as a handicap.

Out of 10 projects I get sent, seven or eight are female protagonists, and that’s not the only thing I’m interested in.

My father passed away when I was 18. It was the worst thing that ever happened to me, but it is not like that all the time. Not every moment is dark.

I actually carried a Panavision Platinum and a G2 when I was seven months pregnant for a film called ‘Little Birds,’ and the whole movie was handheld. And we were shooting in the desert. That’s a 35-millimeter camera. It’s huge, probably at least 50, 55 pounds, and I did all my own operating.

I have a lot of brothers and male cousins. I grew up in an informal, jokey environment.

Real people – everyone is not just one thing.

There are obviously issues in our industry. That starts at the top with studio execs who – not just men – don’t believe a woman could handle a huge franchise or big action movie.

As a cinematographer or director, I’m always looking for projects that are able to say a lot with the actor’s expressions.

I don’t want to come in and do something that’s been done before. You know, for me, it’s not that I wouldn’t come in and do a sequel to something, but it’s only if I can bring something new to the table and I’m not following an extremely strict path.

A lot of TV and film commits to one tone.

It can be insulting to an actor when the director comes out, and they have no notes on the performance, and all they care about is that the camera has to do this one technical thing.

Funny enough, the most discrimination I’ve ever gotten as a woman in this industry has been from other women.

We have this attitude in America of, ‘Someone else is going to fix the problem.’ That’s what the majority of Americans have. Or, ‘I’m just going to go online and sign this petition, and that will take care of it.’ That’s doesn’t do it.

When you work as a cinematographer, the actors look to you for reassurance. When you’re lighting them, they can never think you’re making an adjustment because of the way they look. If they are nervous, it impacts their performance, which impacts the story.