There's no better place to do a longform project than HBO. I loved the creative teams I got a chance to work with.
Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.
You shouldn't be afraid of failure - when something fails, you think, 'What did I learn from that experience? I can do better next time.' Then kill that project and move on to the next. Don't get disappointed.
Great execution is at least 10 times more important and a 100 times harder than a good idea.
I put a lot of work for 'DS3.'
Building a house is like producing a movie. There's no right way to do it but a lot of wrong ways. You have to be flexible and creative. You have to move fast, be prepared - or it quickly becomes costly.
Architect. One who drafts a plan of your house, and plans a draft of your money.
Get yourself a goal worth working for. Better still, get yourself a project.
Slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects.
What's crucial about being an executive producer is that you stay in the loop, information-wise. They have to share all their major decisions with you.
You gotta have a schedule, you gotta have a team that's passionate about seeing you do the things you say you wanna do. When it comes to delivering this, it takes a lot of work and I can't do that on my own.
Plan your work and work your plan. Decide in advance exactly how you are going to get from where you are to where you want to go.
I've been careful to work with good people on interesting material, mostly.
Ultimately, I want to direct a movie, so that's another thing, too, where I wonder what that will look like and how will I be able to manage.
If the business were a play, Act One is, 'Woohoo, bright and bushy-tailed. We're going to make something great!' Act Two is, 'We're six months behind on back-end development.'
To be honest, more than what I prepare, it's the directors who do the bulk of the work, researching, collecting data and all that. I like to see myself as a processor: they feed me with the data, I give the output.
Most of the job on DDP was already done by the time I became mayor. So was Gwanghwamun Square, described by many architects as the city's worst architectural creation, and the new city hall. I did not think that redoing them would be the right approach as that would only create new problems.
Let me tell you about being executive producer. It is not a job, it's a title. Don't go around asking executive producers what they do because they don't do anything, alright?
If it's possible, I will have some noodles in the morning and start talking to people, start to think about a few things in my head - the project or a few ideas which are not finished or if there are possible directions and what will lead into another game. It's always like setting up some kind of game you can continuously play.
I had about the biggest, longest wish list anyone could have, and 99 percent of what I wanted to get on the screen we got on the screen within our schedule and within our budget and within our resources.
Nurturing a project from the ground floor is something I've been wanting to do.
One of the most interesting aspects of the film project was collaborating with so many people - directors, filmmakers, and writers - over a five-year period. I learned that there are two components to this.
I have never been on the trail of developers or contractors.
Lack of planning is the cause of most failures.
I have a producing partner named Stephen Hamel, and we've been trying to generate material.
