He was an unbelievable mentor to so many people. He would call another director and say: “Hey, can you talk to this kid? He’s got real talent, but he’s having trouble with his script.” Or, “Hey, can you call your friend who’s an actor, because there’s this great role. Let’s get her to read it.” Or, “Let’s let this person use our AV/ED just to cut their piece, since they don’t have any money.” There’s nothing that he wouldn’t do for both the indie and Hollywood communities.”
— Caroline Kaplan, producer, who had collaborated with Winick since 1999
“When you’re producing a movie, you like to have a director who hears you and your partners, and Gary understood that movies are a team sport. He knew what he wanted, but he also listened. And he had a great sense of comedy and of style, both personally and in terms of the films he made. He saw some kind of ironic beauty in people and was a real optimist about life.”
— Mark Canton, producer of Winick’s last film, Letters to Juliet
