Debbie Allen
Debbie Allen
Deborrah Kaye "Debbie" Allenis an American actress, dancer, choreographer, television director, television producer, and a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She is perhaps best known for her work on the 1982 musical-drama television series Fame, where she portrayed dance teacher Lydia Grant, and served as the series' principal choreographer. She currently portrays Catherine Avery on Grey's Anatomy. She is the younger sister of actress/director/singer Phylicia Rashad...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionChoreographer
Date of Birth16 January 1950
CityHouston, TX
CountryUnited States of America
In today's competitive marketplace, you can't afford to be humble.
I basically shoot the movie the way I think it should be cut, so my directives to the editor are in the camera.
They had a clear idea about what I really wanted to see, based on our initial conversations, and they did a great job.
Then you give your actors broad strokes based on what your idea is for what is going on in the room and the circumstances surrounding it.
We could have done this movie very differently had we shot on the streets of Harlem and taken a 40-day shooting schedule.
In scoring we have a lot that was not evident in the shooting. The radio is on all the time.
I got my dailies every day, although I couldn't always look at them because I was usually preparing for the next day's shoot, both as an actress and as the director.
Making this movie was a great opportunity for me to explore high-definition. I'm glad I got to see what the challenges are, what makes it better. It works wonderfully.
But it was not possible to do this movie, in this matter of time, without a solid rehearsal period.
The biggest challenge was that we had to shoot so quickly and with such a limited budget.
The production team's first meeting took place at my house. I had ideas and a color scheme in mind, how I wanted the movie to look, because that has to be a real collaboration.
But out of limitations comes creativity.
Failure: Is it a limitation? Bad timing? It's a lot of things. It's something you can't be afraid of, because you'll stop growing. The next step beyond failure could be your biggest success in life.
There was a time when fame meant that you were either someone who is really gifted in your field or you were making an impact or you are famous because you were a really horrible person, you know? But now, you can become famous by eating a frog. It's just not the same thing.