Two fundamental literary qualities: supernaturalism and irony.
These days, you don't need a song or glamour to make your film work. It is all about a good story.
The most important thing is the story. Not the script, but the story.
I believe in characters as vehicles of exposition. Their voices are full of hidden clues, and I like to listen to them.
There is a document in every novel in the world. Even in the most fantastic novel, even in science fiction, there is a documentary side. But, this side is not the crux of the matter.
I think it's intelligent, emotional, character-rich storytelling - at the core, I think those are the most important elements, and I think they can be found across all of our dayparts. That's what, for me, ABC really stands for.
I think my love is storytelling. No matter what it is, it's storytelling. And so whatever the medium is, what's right for the story, I enjoy doing it.
Magazine stories, the best ones anyway, are generally a combination of three elements: access, narrative, and disclosure.
Movies are details. Movies are billions of details that come into a certain moment. So with all the years and months and weeks and days and minutes of preparation, then finally you're shooting and it all comes down to these moments when you're shooting, which is sort of insane when you think about it. The details make a difference.
You have to think about good storytelling and characters first. Then hopefully, the rest of that stuff will follow, some more than others. But if you don't have a good film and strong characters, then you don't have anything down the road.
Plot and character are virtually the same thing.
There are only so many plots in the world. It's how they unfold that makes them interesting.
What should be driving the conversation is: What's the story? What's the movie about? Is it a compelling story? And if it is, then you make it regardless of the color of the people behind or in front of the camera.
The real story is not the plot, but how the characters unfold by it.
How many times can you put together 26 different stories without running out?
Basketball games - and seasons - make great narratives; they feature distinct acts, heroes and villains, and guaranteed resolutions.
To me, storytelling is a mystery. Especially when you're directing.
A performance can have amazing visuals and special effects, but it has to tell a good story, even if that story isn't original.
Details are the Life of Prose.
All stories have a beginning, a middle and an ending, and if they're any good, the ending is a beginning.
Humor is important. If you're going to tell any sort of realistic story, you're going to have to have humor in it, because people are funny. Clever people especially.
I think one is naturally impressed by anything having a beginning a middle and an ending when one is beginning writing and that it is a natural thing because when one is emerging from adolescence, which is really when one first begins writing one feels that one would not have been one emerging from adolescence if there had not been a beginning and a middle and an ending to anything.
What stories are new? All types of all characters march through all fables.
The distinguishing characteristic of the techno-thriller is technical detail.
What resonates with me whenever I watch a great movie or TV show is the balance of inevitability and unpredictability. And it's a very delicate balance.
