If my client calls me and says, 'I'm going to a friend's premiere,' I'll say, 'Come over and let's do something cute.' And I won't bill them for that.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
What goes around comes around in business, and it's better to help people out rather than bill them every time you speak to them.
The funny thing is people won't let me pay for things. I'll be in a restaurant and the manager will say, 'Oh no, it's on the house.'
Some musical directors have more chutzpah. They pick up the phone and talk people into giving. I prefer to call and say 'thank you' after the money has been contributed.
I get letters from young people telling me that they're broke and download my albums for free. They ask me what I think about that. I now have a standard line. I tell them, 'I would rather be heard than paid.'
You loan your friend money. You see them again, they don't say nothin' 'bout the money. 'Hi, how ya doin'? How's ya mama doing?' Man, how's my money doin'?
I always say to my agents, you go through one of these big kind of movies, everyone makes money, but like, I said, 'I'm the one who's gotta go make it, and if I don't have my heart in it, and it's like a love affair, I'm not going to do a good job. Then, and I don't want to just get paid. I just, I don't want to do that.'
When my agents tell me how much I'm going to be paid for a film, instead of quoting a figure, they'll say: 'You're going to make ten pairs of Christian Louboutins.'
I don't go to premieres, unless I'm contractually bound to.
If you make the customer a promise... make sure you deliver it.
The first thing you've got to remember is that it's your clients' money you're spending.