PRODUCTION TIP: William Friedkin on the most important thing

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"The most important thing that I think the director does is choose his material.  That's the single most important thing you do.  In other words, how are you going to spend your time for the next whatever it is?  In my case, on The Exorcist, it was 2 years, which is excessive.  But generally, on a feature film these days, it's anywhere from 6 months to a year. So number one, it's what are you going to do? What do you want to do? That's the most important decision."
-- William Friedkin

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