“The first thing I say when people ask what's the difference [between doing TV and film], is that film has an ending and TV doesn't. When I write a film, all I think about is where the thing ends and how to get the audience there. And in television, it can't end. You need the audience to return the next week. It kind of shifts the drive of the story. But I find that more as a writer than as a director.” PeopleThinkingNeedsWritingFirstsKindEndsStoriesFilmNextAsksDifferencesAudienceWeekTelevisionTvsReturnDirectorsNext Week Author:Jason Reitman
“Film, television, and working with a camera is such an intimate art form that if a camera is right on you, and I've got your face filling the screen, you have to be real. If you do anything that is fake, you're not going to get away with it, because the camera is right there, and the story is being told in a very real way.” IfsWayArtRealStoriesFilmFacesFormTelevisionCamerasScreensFakeIntimateGet AwayYour FaceBeing RealFilling Author:Paul Feig
“When I read a story or see something play out in front of me I say, how come nobody's made a movie or a television show out of this? This is something that belongs in the conversation. Certainly that's what interests me about a project.” MadePlayStoriesShowsInterestFrontsTelevisionConversationProjectsTelevision Shows Author:John Sayles
“When television killed comedy and love stories, the movie makers went in slugging. They offered the downbeat, the degenerate as competition. This seems to me to be a sad campaign for Hollywood to use to combat box office disaster.” StoriesUseSeemsComedyTelevisionOfficeHollywoodAnd LoveCompetitionBoxesCampaignsDisasterLove StoryMakersCombatDegeneratesBox Office Author:Joan Crawford
“Agatha Christie holds special personal memories for me because my mum, a television producer called Pat Sandys, had been the first person to persaude the Agatha Christie estate to put one of her stories on TV.” FirstsPersonsStoriesMemoriesSpecialTelevisionProducersMumEstatesFirst PersonChristie Author:Samantha Bond
“There's no reason the story of Christianity wouldn't be more prevalent in film and television considering the audience size who love and believe the stories. This is a broad audience and deserves to be on broadcast TV.” BelieveReasonStoriesFilmChristianityAudienceTelevisionTvsDeserveSizeNo ReasonBroadsConsideringFilm And Television Author:Mark Burnett
“I think that television lately has been extremely dark and, in some ways, cynical but I also think that people who are writing those shows probably feel exactly as I do - that sometimes the darkness of a story can highlight the light in a story. There's a lot of cynical stuff but I think it may be even more in movies now where you see so many movies about cynical and corrupted characters. That's the state of many movies right now but movies, television, all of culture, there's always going to be a battle between the stories that are cynical and stories that are hopeful.” PeopleThinkingWayFeelsWritingMayHas BeensSometimesStatesCharacterStoriesShowsLightCultureStuffDarkDarknessTelevisionRight NowBattleHopefulCynicalHighlights Author:Randall Wallace
“The factors that laid low so whooping and puissant an empire as the old Hollywood are many. I can think of a score, including the barbarian hordes of Television. But there is one that stands out for me in the post-mortem.... The factor had to do with the basis of movie-making: 'Who shall be in charge of telling the story.'” ThinkingI CanStoriesTelevisionLowsHollywoodBasesIncludingFactorsPostsScoreEmpiresStanding OutBarbariansHordeMovie MakingOld Hollywood Author:Ben Hecht
“I think that we're moving into this new phase of television where audiences are really embracing stories with a beginning, middle, and end.” ThinkingEndsStoriesMovingAudienceMiddleTelevisionPhasesBeginning Middle And End Author:Carlton Cuse
“Well, I don't know anything about television. I'd never done it before. Initially, it was quite daunting to take on so much challenge and so much time with it. I think it is a great outlet for an actress because you really have 13 hours to bring a character to life, which is so much more than with film, and you have the luxury of time to tell a story and to really color a character.” ThinkingKnowsWellsDoneCharacterStoriesFilmHoursChallengesTelevisionColorActressesLuxuryOutlets Author:Diane Kruger
“I will always love film, the romance of film, sitting in the darkened room with strangers and watching a story for two hours - that will always remain and never be eroded by television.” TwoStoriesFilmRomanceHoursRoomsTelevisionSittingStrangerLove Films Author:Cillian Murphy
“But television affords you, what you just described, to - over the course of 18 hours, now that we're doing a third season - tell the story of this man. You're not under any obligation, really, to do massive expositional stuff at the beginning. You're at liberty to say, "Come with us on this journey," and, gradually, you become aware of what his motivations are, what drives him, what his weaknesses are, what his strengths are. That's what I think's sucking people into these worlds, because it is kind of like a novel, you just go really, really deep.” PeopleThinkingMenWorldKindStoriesMotivationCoursesStuffHoursLibertyNovelJourneyTelevisionWeaknessThirdsSeasonsObligationMassiveReally Deep Author:Cillian Murphy
“For those of us at Marvel Television, it always begins with the story. It's all about the script. It's making sure it's there, on the page. So, we needed to go to a group of individuals who have not only created some of the most memorable animated characters, like Ben 10 and Generator Rex, but also had done two seasons of our very successful Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man series, and that's the Man of Action guys. But, it wasn't just that.” MenTwoDoneCharacterStoriesActionGuyIndividualSuccessfulGroupsTelevisionHe ManNeededPagesUltimateSeasonsSeriesScriptsMemorableSpidersAnimatedSpider ManGeneratorMost Memorable Author:Jeph Loeb
“I had a hard time on TV, the last time on television, so I wasn't sure that I wanted to do that again. But, I really am a big fan of Jenji and I knew this is her next thing, so I read it. And once I read the script, I was really, really impressed that there was a woman who was the centerpiece of her own story, and that she was in the center of her own narrative.” HardStoriesBigsWantedLastsNextFansTelevisionTvsScriptsNarrativeHard TimesImpressedLast TimeCenterpieces Author:Taylor Schilling
“More and more of our finest actors are finding room for themselves in the world of television - but I truly believe it's because some of the best stories are being told there.” WorldBelieveStoriesActorsRoomsTelevisionFindingsFinest Author:Jeffrey Dean Morgan
“So many of the great detectives that we see on television now owe their origins to Sherlock Holmes. What was very exciting about Rob's pitch and script was that he is a real Holmes-ian expert. He knew all of the mythology. He was very well-versed in the genesis of Holmes and the stories. And the twist with Watson is something we jumped at immediately. It's a very forward-thinking way of doing the show.” ThinkingWayWellsRealStoriesShowsTelevisionExcitingScriptsMythologyExpertsTwistsDetectivesGenesisHolmesWatsonForward Thinking Author:Nina Tassler
“I absolutely love television. What's so great about TV is that I can tell 20 stories in a year. If I was working at a feature studio, I'd tell 1% of someone else's story, over the course of four years.” IfsYearsI CanStoriesCoursesFourTelevisionTvsStudiosFeaturesFour Years Author:Alex Hirsch
“Sometimes not honoring your character makes for really good television, but that also can really upset fans. You have to turn things upside sometimes. As a storyteller, you have to know that sometimes you're going to let your fans and the audience down because you have to do your part in servicing the story.” KnowsSometimesCharacterStoriesTurnsAudienceFansTelevisionUpsetStoryteller Author:Azita Ghanizada
“Science fiction fans are the smartest fans in television. They just are. They're just so smart, and they know so much detail and information. They're a part of the story and they inform your character, as well. We all listen to the fans, and we love their feedback and the attention they give us.” KnowsGivingWellsCharacterStoriesAttentionFictionFansInformationTelevisionSmartScience FictionDetailsFeedback Author:Azita Ghanizada
“There's a new television generation coming in every five or 10 years, and the classic stories stand up to being redone.” YearsStoriesFiveGenerationsTelevisionClassic Author:Rebecca Eaton
“The network wants you to make a thing that's just a stand-alone episode, so you never get any character or continuity. This is one of the ways in which television can actually be good, and even better than the movies, because it gives you a chance to tell a long story.” WayWantGivingLongCharacterStoriesChanceTelevisionBe GoodEpisodesContinuityStand AloneLong Story Author:Billy Campbell
“The only kind of film I want to write is a story where I can keep on seeing the stories play out. I'm a huge television fan, and I'm a huge continuing storyline fan.” WantWritingKindI CanPlayStoriesFilmSeeingFansTelevisionHugeContinuingStoryline Author:Melissa Rosenberg
“I think there's a lot of really good programming on television. What I've noticed, through the years of being a professional writer, is the watering down process of story. You have to market to the masses and not offend anybody.” ThinkingYearsStoriesProcessTelevisionMassProgrammingThrough The Years Author:Lauren Iungerich
“I love soap operas - the stories, the plots! And I love the game shows and the courtroom dramas and the detectives - Jessica Fletcher, 'Columbo,' 'Perry Mason,' 'L.A. Law.' Any sense of guilt appeals to me in a television program - a sense of guilt, or a sense of making a lot of money.” StoriesShowsLawGamesTelevisionDramaProgramGuiltAppealsPlotOperaLots Of MoneySoapDetectivesJessicaMasonsSoap OperasCourtroomGame Shows Author:Peter Ackroyd
“Essentially, the scripts are not that different. Let's say, in literary terms, it's the difference between writing horizontally and writing vertically. In live television, you wrote much more vertically. You had to probe people because you didn't have money or sets or any of the physical dimensions that film will allow you. So you generally probed people a little bit more. Film writing is much more horizontal. You can insert anything you want: meadows, battlefields, the Taj Mahal, a cast of thousands. But essentially, writing a story is writing a story.” PeopleWantWritingLittlesDifferentStoriesFilmBitsTermDifferencesTelevisionLittle BitScriptsCastsDimensionsWant MeBattlefieldsMeadowsYou Want MeInsertHorizontalTaj MahalMahalLive TelevisionFilm WritingLiterary Terms Author:Rod Serling
“I like to multitask. I love the process of the storytelling in television. I love the serial. Even my stab at doing a procedural show was still very much serialized. I'm such a serialized storyteller. I feel like the story never ends. I want it to go and go and go. However, with cable and streaming now it's endless. You can do anything.” WantFeelsStillsEndsStoriesShowsProcessCan DoTelevisionEndlessStorytellingStorytellerCablesSerialsStreaming Author:Kevin D. Williamson
“The craft of putting together a performance on film or television is incredibly intricate; you're putting together a story that is completely out of order, that you have to make some sense of, that you have to keep some coherence to the story, to the character.” CharacterStoriesTogetherFilmOrderTelevisionPerformancesCraftsIntricateCoherence Author:Gabriel Mann
“We knew Terry Brooks' work, but we hadn't read the Shannara books. So, they sent us the book to read and we just loved the story and the characters. We thought it would make a very compelling season of television. We were like, "Someone is going to make this. Why don't we do it?"” BookCharacterStoriesTelevisionSeasonsCompellingBrooks Author:Miles Millar
“I think the world should be represented on television and for the longest its been limited. Ethnic stories specifically need variety in content period.” ThinkingWorldNeedsShouldStoriesTelevisionPeriodsVariety Author:Aeriel Miranda
“We couldn't get it off the ground as a film, but then we begin to think television, and Lowell pushed it out there and Jim and Nick were anxious to do Hap and Leonard anyway, and I had worked with them before, so it was a perfect story. I love the series. I hope there's a second.” ThinkingStoriesFilmPerfectTelevisionSeriesAnxious Author:Joe R. Lansdale