A classic is a classic for a reason. Let's try to create new classics. The idea of repeating ourselves drives me a little crazy.
Gina Prince-BythewoodI write to music, and Nina Simone is always on my playlist to write to. I mean, shes inspiring. She's truthful and real and raw.
Gina Prince-BythewoodMy parents are amazing. When I said I wanted to go into film, they didn't understand it, but they were incredibly supportive. But growing up, I absolutely did have that feeling of, "Wow, somebody just gave me up." That was infused in The Secret Life of Bees too - the protagonist wanting unconditional love from her dead but much-imagined mother.
Gina Prince-BythewoodSports also teaches you that it's about the team, and the better your teammates are, the better they make you.
Gina Prince-BythewoodA Different World was run by black women, Debbie Allen and Yvette Lee Bowser. Lead writer Susie Fales-Hill was a hero of mine, because she was 28 when she was running one of the top shows on television. Going to work every day and seeing black women in charge made that normal to me.
Gina Prince-Bythewood