Jim Cameron is proof that if you are good, you'll get promoted.

You first saw Boris coming down this long hallway in the Baron's blue coat. Then he'd move out of the shot. Then I'd come down the hallway and after I'd cleared the frame -- Roger didn't even bother to cut the camera and slate the shots -- Sandra would come down the hallway. Then it was Dick's turn, looking weird in his black servant suit.

My father was an engineer, ... But I found out that the film critics for the Stanford Daily got free passes for all the films. So I became first an assistant critic and then the main film critic. Those free passes changed my life.

The majors now have sort of semi-independent companies allied with them, making lower-budget films. They're competing with us. And television is a huge target for young people. So we don't quite have the monopoly on young writers, directors, producers and actors that we formerly did.

When I started in the late 1950s, every film I made - no matter how low the budget - got a theatrical release. Today, less that 20-percent of our films get a theatrical release.

I think The Blair Witch Project is an exceptionally well-conceived and well-made film.