Television Producers

"I love working on shows where they have the history week to week where the more you watch it, the more interesting it becomes. As you watch it unfold over time, that’s where you see it really flower. That’s my preference when I’m working on something."

"When you're part of a TV writing staff, a big part of the job is coming up with ideas, just all the time, they can be crazy, half-formed ideas, or whole pitches, you're just constantly coming up with things to throw at the wall, and you know that only some of them are going to stick. When you're the head writer, you spend a lot more time judging, choosing, making those calls about which direction to go. You have to change gears really often between being wildly imaginative, open to all possibilities... and then putting on the producer hat and considering what you're really able to accomplish, what's going to work in the long term.... Something can sound great when you first hear it, but then it takes you down a road that's going to turn into a dead end, you have to try and see that coming...."

"If I had any advice to give, it's to be your own toughest critic when you write a spec or pitch -- a great idea goes a long way, but it's important to craft and polish your work so that you're communicating your ideas clearly and concisely, and that they're as entertaining as can be (remember, competition is stiff). And if you're pitching, put yourself in the mind of the producer or executive you're pitching to: figure out how to make your idea specific to the show, yet be inventive -- they'll want to hear something they might not have come up with on their own, that's why they're taking pitches in the first place."

"You can’t go picking and choosing whether or not to save an animal – where on earth would you stop?"

"One hopes that people realise that there is a need to integrate development and conservation. We need to emphasise that protection of ecology is always beneficial for the present generation and the future one. This is where one needs to replicate the Indian example, where a network of national parks have been created to protect environment. It is not just the laws but their strict implementation that is must."

"I often tell people, "If you have a choice between the bottom job and a low management job when you're first starting, take the bottom job because you won't learn as much in the management job". I also tell students, "If you're not curious, you're not going to learn. And if you're not enthusiastic, you won't be noticed". If you're not naturally enthusiastic, pretend to be. It's very infectious."

"…He had always known the situation was messed up, but it took me calling him out. I told him: ‘I’ve been pissed at you. This was terrible and it hurt me and what you did was wrong’…[he did it] because he was afraid, because he was working on a script with these guys. It was bros before hoes."

"People can’t be creative if they feel threatened. You need people saying random weird stuff without feeling their boss will yell at them. And it worked. I think there has been an awakening of compassion, since, a reckoning with privilege."

"…We’re starting to have those conversations and it’s messy, because it’s stuff that we haven’t reckoned with, ever…Like, everyone has always known not to grab an butt, or to not say point blank, ‘You’re a woman – you’re not funny.’ But even just 10 years ago, no one would have talked about a cultural problem in comedy."

"Getting older is great, but I think bravery also comes with having a good career and high status. The world has shown me that bravery and honesty tends to be the better route. And I want to set an example for my daughter."

"I didn’t know that people could be bigoted even as they were smiling at you. It’s hard to understand when you see people saying that they love you, but they’re afraid of you at the same time."

"At some point, political pragmatism has to reckon with the reality of climate change. You can’t negotiate with science. You can’t meet it halfway."

"People in the penthouse are giving too much to charity? Awesome! But they're also shaping society without our consent. Not awesome! And as long as there are people with so much money in so much power, we'll have no say. The only real solution here is making sure that they're not that rich in the first place."

"What a lot of people have found out about Powerpuff Girls is initially they just think it's this little girl thing that's lame like My Little Pony or whatever. Then they watch it and they’re like "Wait a minute, this is really funny, and this is really good, and it's actually, you know, entertaining.""

"When I first did my first short for Powerpuff Girls, and we focus-tested it, I'm sure people have heard this story, we showed it to a group of 11-year-old boys, and they said "this is the worst cartoon that has been ever made and whoever made it should be fired." I'm sitting in the room with all the executives watching these 11-year-old boys destroy the show, and... I was like, I went back to the studio and I started redesigning the characters and I gave 'em fingers and I made them more accessible, and I was like "they didn't get it, they didn't get it..." [...] I took that criticism and went, "what did I do wrong? What wasn't I communicating? How I was I not telling this idea clearly?" And what I realized I was doing, is I had been making it in my head for so long, I made an episode that was like a third season, middle-of-the-season episode. And I'm like, "No, you gotta go back to the very beginning of the idea" [...] and just kind of step the audience through the idea and introduce them. Even though it seems like old hat to you, and you're like "well that's boring", but that's what the audience wants. Tell them a story. Who are they, these characters? Why should I like them? Don't be so ironic or high-concept-y."

"When I was a kid I spent a lot of time playing with the artisticly rooted pieces of junk that George was selling me. My wife Lauren did the same the only difference was her junk was pink and had combable hair. Either way these toys were far from junk, in fact they were our lives. Everyday we would make up characters, worlds, and adventures for them. Lauren's My Little Pony world was no less valid than My Little Star Wars world.So imagine little Lauren's surprise when she heard there was going to be a cartoon of her favorite toy! Imagine her dissapointment when the cartoon didn't live up to the world she had created in her head. Maybe she wouldn't have been so upset if she realized that cartoon was only bad because it was produced by a bunch of dudes who couldn't believe they were working on My Little Pony, uggggh. Imagine if they let HER make it, she knows why girls like Pony, she knows what will make it fun and cool.Now imagine 30 years later in some crazy cosmic coincidence she actually does get a get a chance to finally bring that world she's had in her head since she was a little kid to life! Maybe just maybe if she can traverse the waters of notes, schedules, and executives she can finally inject a little a artistic integrity and creative vision into it and make a MLP that girls will actually really like.Heck I even like it now and I hated that lame Pony junk, it wasn't cool like my Star Wars junk."

"This problem is so much bigger than individual bad cops. There is a separate legal and political framework that shields cops from consequences, gives them special rights when defending themselves, and often trains them to fear the communities that they’re supposed to protect."

"When [Powerpuff Girls] was tested, everyone hated it. There were 11-year-old boys telling me I should be fired and it was the worst cartoon they've ever seen in their life."

"[Question from the audience]: "If you could pick only one thing, what is the most important thing when it comes to creating and running your own series?"Craig McCracken: Characters. Great, likable characters that resonate with audiences. That's the most important thing. Concepts will get you to try out a show, to tune in to a show maybe, but concepts don't keep you watching over and over again. If you're not engaged with the characters and the personalities of the characters, you're not going to continue to watch that show."

"A lot of people come up with these really elaborate concepts, and they get into the weeds of the concepts and how the story's gonna be. That's not what executives wanna see. They wanna see characters that they can engage with, and, also it sounds a little cliche, but the so-called "elevator pitch" or seven words, "try to describe your show in seven words", is a really good exercise. I found it just... work through, y'know, what your idea is about. That elevator pitch is basically "I've got a few seconds to tell somebody my idea, how would I say it?""

"The main inspirations for Powerpuff for me were the '66 Adam West Batman show, and Underdog."

"Look, I know this seems like the part where I make an impassioned argument for why immigrants are good for America. You know the hits. “This country was built on immigrants. They boost the economy. Rihanna.” That’s all true. But that is not why we have asylum. We have asylum because it is the morally right thing to do. These are people escaping murder and kidnappings and gang violence."

"We eventually transitioned out of shock and into mourning. As Muslim Americans, however, we also had to contend with fear as well. We were held responsible, as a group, for the terrorist attacks or seen as a threat. Suddenly our religion was dangerous and our American-ness called into question. The comedian Hasan Minhaj put it so well in his Netflix special, Homecoming King: On September 11, "everyone in America felt like their country was under attack," he said, but on September 12 and so many nights after that, I felt like my family's love and loyalty for this country was under attack.""

"He was always charming and gracious, and willing to give any harebrained scheme of mine a fair hearing before saying, “You’re nuts, Buzz.” He was without question one of the nicest people I’ve ever met -- and it’s been my privilege to have met and worked with a lot of super-nice people."

"Once you create the show you are always its creator, no matter how many other versions are produced."

"There was no great awakening or such. I did some magazine cartooning years before, but never perused it much. It was just a "freak" opportunity that came up at Hanna-Barbera"

"In very many ways, Joe was the quintessential cigar chompin’ Hollywood producer. In far many others he was atypical in that role. He could keep his focus when everything about him was going completely bonkers, either from network fiat or his own crew running riot. And he always retained his compassion and empathy. I’m sorry he didn’t get to do more projects that he wanted to do, not stuff the networks forced him into producing. I’m glad I had the chance to work for him."

"She should, in my view, make a substantial donation to the Madeleine McCann fund -- perhaps half her Booker prizewinnings of €70,000: she will be a rich woman, in any case... But I doubt she will make any such gesture, because I don't think she quite understands how much damage she has done, not just to Mr and Mrs McCann, but to the vital principle that every individual in a properly-run democracy is innocent until proved guilty. She seems to think that the unfortunate aspect was the "timing" of the piece. No, it was not. It was the substance -- and the effect."

"Everybody's got an opinion about her, haven't they? Even that charmless female Anne Enright couldn't just accept a fat cheque and the Man Booker Prize for her miserable novel about a large family without telling the world, totally gratuitously, that she hated Kate McCann. Her publishers should have put a large brown bag over her head immediately — because to put down someone who is guilty of no crime, except being fit and attractive, is thoroughly repellent. I urge you not to buy Enright's book until she apologises for this slur on another member of the sisterhood."

"It was lucky I was hanging around with theatre types who don't really have steady jobs."

"There are so few people given us to love. I want to tell my daughters this, that each time you fall in love it is important, even at nineteen. Especially at nineteen. And if you can, at nineteen, count the people you love on one hand, you will not, at forty, have run out of fingers on the other. There are so few people given us to love and they all stick."

"There was a great buzz and sometimes I felt like awarding myself purple hearts for the work I was doing."

"I remember rocking the pram with one hand and typing with the other."

"I am an open-minded skeptic. I never go in thinking these things are there, but neither do I discount them out of the gate. I think there’s a number of stories we’ve investigated where I’ve walked away and thought, “Maybe there’s something going on there.”"

"I'm a big believer in that part of the experience, you know? If you talk to anybody about travel, just personally, so much of what they'll tell you about any trip is the mechanics of the trip. How the flight was, what went wrong, what went right, how they got stranded at that train station. One of the things that always struck me as kind of strange about travel-themed TV is how glossy it all is, ya know, which really doesn't match our experiences. That's fine if you're doing an aspirational, you know, "world's greatest pools" kind of thing or something, but you know for us, the journey is the expedition, right?"

"I could actually tell stories and narratives which were little alternative and radical. For whatever its worth, you can support imperfection. (as an answer to the evolving tastes of the Indian Audience and the rise of the Digital Streaming Platforms)"

"I never want to be on a pedestal. Because the same people who put you on a pedestal will throw you of it. I really don't want to be appreciated to the extent that I start living for their appreciation."

"When you're writing a character, you have to know where they're coming from. You may never use that information, but you have to know it. It just helps you mark the journey better."

"Art has different meaning for different people. For some its realism, for some its escapism, and you have to accept that."

"[Leaving the EU is] the biggest economic crisis that our country will have faced for many, many generations."

"If we insist on leaving the EU then there is realistically only one way to honour our obligations under the Good Friday Agreement and that is to remain members of both the customs union and the single market"

"[Brexit is] the first instance that I can think of in living memory of a government pursuing a policy that they know is going to make our economy smaller and reduce people's livelihoods and life chances and I cannot understand why we in Labour would support that."

"What we’d depicted and its implications stayed in the minds of every actor and crew member for a long time. I’m sure there were some nightmares. There are some things so far outside our experience or comprehension that they are unthinkable. Nuclear war is one."

"People tell me how relevant they find the movie to what’s happening now. It’s comforting, at a time when so many films are being remade, to find that people still appreciate – and are scared by – the original film."

"Barry came up with the idea of the two families – one working class, the other lower-middle – and what their lives were like. Sheffield seemed a good place to set it, and Barry knew it well. It was bang in the middle of the country, and a good way from London. Strategically, it also made sense: there were industrial and military targets nearby. Both of us were interested in the idea that none of these characters would ever have a god’s-eye-view of events, and never find out what was happening outside their immediate experience, certainly not outside Sheffield. That seemed to be the way most people would have to deal with a nuclear apocalypse, with most forms of communication vaporised."

"That period had seen Reagan starting the Strategic Defense Initiative, the downing of the Korean Airliner by the Soviets, and [Reagan] calling the Soviet Union the Evil Empire. [...] It was perhaps the most dangerous time for the world since the Cuban missile crisis and...there was this feeling that BBC wasn’t dealing with this in any way. Everyone was very paranoid. The world was on the brink of nuclear war and no one knew anything about it."

"It is unthinkable for most people. Nuclear war is so outside your everyday experience it’s hard to get your mind around it. And if you can’t get your mind around it, you can’t talk about it and have a meaningful debate."

"The idea was to take a movie which was about death...and use the iconography of life to tell the story."

"From the point where the bomb happens, the whole nature of the movie changes. In the first half of the movie, I hope, you have a very full soundtrack. You have all the soundtrack of TV broadcasts and radio broadcasts, the sound of birdsong in the country, the sound of musical things happening, the sound of traffic and city noises. And from the moment that the bomb drops you don't have anything. You don't even have the teletype, all these things, they just type out in silence, and all you hear is wind. [...] You hear voices of people screaming, coughing or whatever. You hear wind, you hear no birds. [...] It's gone. That world is gone."

"This sense of things...getting out of control very quickly is a lesson that we’ve forgotten. [...] I hope we don’t learn it in the wrong way. This is what you’re risking when you talk about fire and fury."