I love films where I'm looking around the world a little different now that I've seen that. I want something that nourishes my view of the world.
Let's make really good stories that people get something out of. That's the one common denominator with everything I try to do.
When I sit down, I find that it's much easier for me to want to consume a movie than to dip back into 20 or 40 or 60 hours of a television series. I think a great movie is really amazing. But, television does give you a larger canvas.
I like projects that are entertaining, where I'm emotionally engaged and there's something to think about afterwards.
The challenge is creating a character that's rich and interesting to warrant following for a number of years.
I think a pilot is a pilot, no matter who's judging it, but I will say I am thinking a lot about how to tell stories for the series in a streaming environment where you can anticipate a huge portion of the audience will consume an entire season in the course of a day, two days or a week.
If my whole game depends on whether you can guess the ending or not, I'm done, forget it.
Usually monsters are some aspect of human behavior or humanity at large.
If people walk out of the movie and they think about it, then that's quite something.
The beauty of a really good movie is that it's a whole world, complete in an hour and a half or two hours.
It sounds corny, but I think people need stories to process the world. That's our business. That's the job we're in. We tell stories.
I don't like television and movies where it's like, "Well, that was entertaining, but when I think back on it, that didn't really make sense and it's empty." That's like junk food, to me.
The actors in Britain are incredible, and I didn't appreciate that until I got there. They interpret your words and you realize how deliberate and thoughtful they are. There are great American actors, too, don't get me wrong, but the technique that British actors have is something really special.
I have so many things that I want to do, and I don't have enough time in my life to do them all. The problem with acting business is that it's so expensive and you've got to get so many people to say yes.
Create a really interesting, complex person that you want to know more about, and take her on a journey that is rich and fulfilling and that has an end that is perfectly fulfilling, and that has an end that is perfect for that character, and the audience will love it.
I have always read all my reviews, the bad along with the good (although you remember the bad much more than the good!). I am just too curious to see how it's playing with the audience, and I have a thick-enough skin to handle the less charitable assessments.
You can't outsmart or outguess the audience in terms of what the narrative answer is.
The one thing you can do that the audience can't do - all those smart people online in the chat rooms can't do - is deliver a satisfying emotional journey for a human being, for a character.
The primary reason people watch television is you want to see the world through somebody else's eyes, and learn what that's like. You can only live one life, and so you get to see other lives through these characters.
As a journalist you have to think quickly, you're exposed to all types of people and situations and you've got to synthesize your thoughts in a very clear and concise way and write them down quickly. Those were all things that have proven really useful in my life as a television writer.
It's my belief that when you're dealing with the supernatural, the supernatural still has to trump we mortals, it still has to be more powerful than we are. You can't really defeat it. You can live to fight another day but it's very rare that a human being can actually destroy a supernatural force.
