I realized that every sermon I preached should be designed not to 'teach' or 'convert' people, but rather to encourage them, to give them a lift. I decided to adopt the spirit, style, strategy and substance of a 'therapist' in the pulpit.

We all know that a church is not a building.

Goals are not only absolutely necessary to motivate us. They are essential to really keep us alive.

Today's accomplishments were yesterday's impossibilities.

Movies are a commercial medium. We don't make movies to impress our friends and critics. It's an expensive medium. We have to gain money from it.

I used the principles of Kickstarter to make 'She's Gotta Have It.' We filmed that in 1985 to 1986. The final cost was $175,000. I didn't have that money. It was friends, grants, donations. We saved our bottles for the nickel deposit.

Money's important, but it isn't a motivator for me.

So it's a mistake for someone to think that they bailed New York out. They did assist us, for which we are grateful, but it's a mistake to say we bailed New York out by giving them a grant of money to help those poor people who throw it away on welfare.