The funny thing for me is, I have never lived in a network world.
You don't want to be slavishly doing the same thing over and over again that everybody else has done, but at the same time, you're conscious of, "This is important. I owe something to my ten year old self right now. I need to respect that." I need for that kid who is obsessively reading comic books, I need there to be something rewarding for him where he's like, I didn't waste my time. I know what this is.
I have always been drawn to characters, and this was true for my feature-writing career as well, where there is a tension between rule-breaking and rule-following.
I came to accept in myself a long time ago that I really do like writing articulate sociopaths.
I really like transgressive characters that have an alternate world view. I've actually written a fair number of kids movies, and I'll insert these kid-friendly articulate sociopaths who are usually yelling at the children for their own benefit.
I'm a rule follower. But there is also a part of me, clearly, that doesn't follow them.
Everybody should have a television show. Let's all get television shows!
I'm fortunate to have had my own level of success. My joys in life are I've got three little kids, and I got to buy a house that I really like, and everyone should have that.
I am very conscious on a daily basis of how extraordinarily blessed I am to get to do what I do and work with the people that I work with, so I make a practice of being grateful.
I am fortunate in that I am motivated to do what I do by just a really goofy desire to do it. Maybe I have demons that are hidden away someplace, and I'll discover mine someday.
I'm always looking for what's something that Bradley Whitford's character can say that is completely outrageous and completely wrong, but in a double-reverse way is actually totally right. I don't really like where there's a story and you lay a few jokes on top of it.
Spies have the same kinds of needs and desires that everybody does, which is funny. The best kind of comedy derives from that kind of truth.
Obviously, everybody's favorite form of web content is more story with principal actors. But the economics of the web do not yet support.
A "showrunner" as a position is a relatively new thing. It used to be the executive producer. That's not true anymore. Now it's evolved into this model where people look to showrunners and say, that guy is that show. It's just become a lot more interesting to know the showrunner and to get a sense of that person.
People joke about me that I talk in voiceovers. I have that sort of inflection. But I do talk in voiceovers. I have done it my whole life.
The idea of the writer/producer in television is much younger than people think it is.
I have to say, as a showrunner, being niche-y is kind of a great thing.
I just really like writing and making television shows. There are ego rewards in doing battle with other television programs in prime time in the main season. I suppose there are times when I might look at that and think that's the major league. But when you look at it, ultimately would I really want to gamble my livelihood and my ability to connect with my fan base or write a show that I really like writing, or in some cases direct a show that I really like directing, for the sake of winning an ego battle? It's totally not worth it. That stuff is so ephemeral.
I really gravitate to the comedy of tonal contrasts. I hope that doesn't sound insufferably pretentious. What I mean is people having reactions to things that seem inappropriate, or being happy in an apparently unhappy situation.
One of the things that I have always been interested in is the actual experience of people in their lives as opposed to what we think their experience should be.
I think it's satisfying for people to feel that that relationship is reciprocal in some way. The truth is, you do have a relationship with your fans, and there is a feedback loop there. And while you have to be careful not to write a show just for the superfans, that kind of feedback is really valuable.
