This is said far better than I ever could, coming from genius Guillermo Del Toro: "A director has to feel about the film as incredibly in love and as much in passion as he feels for his own flesh and blood. One of the first rules I heard from Hollywood -- that I have thankfully never applied in any film I do -- is: Never put your own money in it. I was puzzled. I said, "If you don't put your own money in, why the fuck should somebody spend their own money to see it?" I don't understand. I would give my life, my house, my car, my salary, my blood and my internal organs for my children and my movies. That's what makes a director: the degree of absolute madness that drives him into making the film."

Due to downturn of finances in music videos, there's an idea right now that music video directors are suckers, because we keep putting money we should be getting paid back into the piece. I think this is the most perfect, eloquent reasoning for why I've ever heard.

This is from a Hollywood Reporter rountable discussion with David Lynch, Del Toro, Dayton and Faris (the Little Miss Sunshine directors) and Nancy Meyers. Meyers being the most unexceptional of the filmmakers its no wonder she comes across as a miserable grump.