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Shawn Ryan

Shawn Ryan Books

Screenwriter

Shawn Ryan, born on October 11, 1966, is a talented American screenwriter known for his work across various genres, including crime, mystery, and drama. Ryan is renowned for his profound character development and engaging storytelling.

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Related Quotes

“Everyone in Hollywood who is successful becomes less successful at some point. I'm just trying to delay that fall for as long as I can.”

Trying Long I Can Fall Successful Hollywood Delay

Author:Shawn Ryan

“I don't ever want to have a weak episode of television with my name on it.”

Want Names Television Weak Episodes

Author:Shawn Ryan

“I don't want my writing to be recognized.”

Author:Shawn Ryan

“I don't want my writing to be so unique that when you apply it to different genres, it seems like the previous show that people know you from.”

People Knows Want Writing Different Shows Seems Unique Genre Different Genres

Author:Shawn Ryan

“I still feel driven to try to make great shows and to make each episode great.”

Feels Trying Stills Shows Driven Episodes

Author:Shawn Ryan

“I would say on a creative level I put a lot of pressure on myself.”

Levels Creative Pressure

Author:Shawn Ryan

“I'm perfectly happy to color within the network lines when I have to.”

Author:Shawn Ryan

“I'm very humble in terms of knowing that television is an extraordinary collaborative medium and that one person alone cannot make a great TV show.”

Persons Shows Term Knowing Television Tvs Extraordinary Humble Mediums Tv Shows That One Person

Author:Shawn Ryan

“I've spent a lot of time thinking about what the audience would want. That's my job, is to anticipate ahead of the audience.”

Thinking Want Jobs Audience Anticipate

Author:Shawn Ryan

“To this day, nothing makes me happier than finding a TV show I really love.”

Shows Tvs Findings This Day Tv Shows

Author:Shawn Ryan

“TV is just such a fast-moving medium that you do what you can do, and what you can't do, you don't worry about too much.”

Moving Can Do Worry Too Much Tvs Mediums

Author:Shawn Ryan

“Working as a showrunner has made it tougher to watch other shows and movies.”

Made Shows Watches Made It

Author:Shawn Ryan

“You can make a good show, but you still need some magical alchemy to get people to watch.”

People Needs Stills Shows Watches Alchemy

Author:Shawn Ryan

“I was never that kid who grew up in New York and was always at the arthouse watching important films. I was the kid who grew up in the Midwest where there weren't any art films, and I watched TV. And that was really the medium that affected me and that I fell in love with.”

Art Important Kids Film New York Tvs Grew Grew Up Mediums Affected Midwest Art Films

Author:Shawn Ryan

“I've worked in network and cable on and off for a number of years, and you just understand what your parameters are. A lot of times, I think the best work that my team has come up with comes from having to deal with certain boundaries.”

Thinking Years Certain Deals Numbers Team Come Up Boundaries Cables Best Work And Off Parameters

Author:Shawn Ryan

“In order to appeal to a wider audience on network in order to survive, generally your characters need to be, at a base level, a little bit more likable.”

Needs Littles Character Order Bits Levels Audience Little Bit Appeals

Author:Shawn Ryan

“One of the tricky things about running a TV show is that you just never know how good the guest stars you cast on a weekly basis, how good they're going to be in the episode. Sometimes they surprise you in good ways and sometimes they surprise you in disappointing ways.”

Knows Way Sometimes Shows Running Stars Know How Tvs Bases Surprise Casts Guests Episodes Tv Shows Tricky Good Way Disappointing Guest Stars

Author:Shawn Ryan

“Series finales have that responsibility to leave you feeling good about entire series. You want to feel like the viewer closes the book satisfied. And if you strike out on the finale it skews how you feel about the entire series.”

Ifs Want Feels Book Feelings Responsibility Series Strikes Satisfied Feel Good Viewers How You Feel Finale

Author:Shawn Ryan

“There are certain economics involved in making a network TV show that you want to amortize the costs of that, so the more episodes you make, the cheaper they all are individually.”

Want Shows Certain Tvs Involved Cost Economics Episodes Tv Shows Cheaper

Author:Shawn Ryan

“There will always be economic pressure to make hits, identify hits, and then exploit hits. And you're going to exploit them with as many episodes as you probably can.”

Economic Pressure Episodes Exploits

Author:Shawn Ryan

“Cheers was one of the first shows where I paid attention to the writers because their [work] was better than everything else I was watching. The writers weren't afraid to let a joke fall slightly flat if it advanced the characters.”

Ifs Firsts Character Shows Fall Attention Jokes Paid Flats Cheer

Author:Shawn Ryan

“Obviously there are different standards and practices that are allowed on cable versus network. You just have to embrace what your network is going to allow.”

Different Practice Standards Embrace Versus Cables

Author:Shawn Ryan

“The worst thing you can do is end up with a network show on cable or end up with a cable show on network.”

Ends Shows Can Do Worst Worst Things Cables

Author:Shawn Ryan

“I've always read a lot of historical books and I'm a big fan of documentaries, and I've always thought of ways to do it.”

Way Book Bigs Fans Historical Documentaries

Author:Shawn Ryan

“I always think it's better to take your time and go through a lot of ideas - and dismiss a lot of ideas - before figuring out where to land. It's a good way to care for your audience, too. If you spend hours and hours and days and weeks coming up with the ending, then there's a chance the fans won't figure it out on their own.”

Thinking Care Hours Chance Audience Week Take Your Time Care For You

Author:Shawn Ryan

“There are story-room sessions where you think about the big picture, like a novel, but once you have certain things in place, you have to treat each episode like an hour of TV, and think that maybe this will be the only episode that anyone will ever watch. You want to have some sort of beginning, middle, and end to the episode, even if you have storylines that are carrying over. You still want it to feel like a cohesive hour of entertainment. And you can't think about both at the same time.”

Thinking Hours Novel Over You Big Picture

Author:Shawn Ryan

“When you start a TV show, you're not necessarily thinking, "Are we setting up what we need for season seven?" You're just trying to stay on the air, and you try to learn your job as you go, and do what you can.”

Thinking Trying Seven

Author:Shawn Ryan

“Nothing makes me happier than to have a smart person tell me why the show is smart, especially if I didn't intend that. I tend to be a very instinctual writer, and I don't plot shows out like, "This is my thesis and this is how I'm going to subtly sneak my thesis into this episode." I just approach it from, "We know these characters well, here are the situations that they're in, now how would they behave? What would the consequences be?" And it's always fun to see how people interpret that and dissect it afterward, and make me and the other writers seem probably smarter than we really are.”

People Character Fun Situation Smart Consequence Behave Sneak Thesis

Author:Shawn Ryan

“I think the bar is higher these days in terms of audience expectations of authenticity.”

Thinking Term Audience Higher Expectations Bars Authenticity These Days

Author:Shawn Ryan

“I have no problem at all going back and forth between cable and network.”

Problem No Problem Cables Back And Forth

Author:Shawn Ryan

“The payment for sins can be delayed. But they cant be avoided.”

Sin Cant Avoided Payment Delayed

Author:Shawn Ryan

About the Author

Born: October 11, 1966
Known for: Screenwriter
Quotes: 31

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