I have a theory: not to bore the audience. That’s a good theory. It sometimes seems that all pictures are too long, mine included, but this is always what I try to avoid. That’s why we have previews.

If we see the film getting slow, or somebody falling asleep or walking out, then you try to correct something to keep the interest up. Some of the directors today don’t seem to give a damn about anything except their own feelings. There’s a very fine line between self-confidence and arrogance.

You make pictures, in a way, for yourself, but you also make them for an audience. I guess some filmmakers don’t care about the audience. They only want to satisfy themselves, and I think this is wrong. To insist on length when it is not necessary is wrong.

If you make a film that has something to say, if you want to convey that thought to a large audience, then you must make it compatible to them. You must make them accept it and like it.

Otherwise, if they don’t come to see your picture, you only reach a handful of people, and you have not succeeded in getting your message across.

—William Wyler from Conversations With the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood’s Golden Age