Craig Mazin Quotes

Whether it is television or film, the character on the page has to speak to me.

When you write for a show that's not yours, your job is to hear the voices of the characters and write as best you can for those voices.

When I first read the script a few years ago I thought it was one of the best written scripts I had ever read.

The few times I've tried to write original screenplays, it's a difficult process because I just don't feel like I know the characters the way I know them after the year or two it takes to write a novel.

In television writing, you want to hear what the characters say as opposed to giving them something to say. It's the same with the cartoons.

I'd love to work with Aaron Sorkin on something. Just the way he writes, he has no fear in writing people that are fiercely intelligent, and I love that.

My preference is for good writing. It doesn't matter if it's for film or TV. Whatever. It starts with the writing. Even though I've had problems with writers, it doesn't matter how great of an actor you are. If the writing is bad, you're going to struggle.

What I look for in any character, good or bad, is whether I can hear him speak. If I can imagine him that clearly, then I can write about him.

I try to give all my characters a sense of humor, so I guess I feel like I have done comedy, but maybe I'm better known for drama.

I am lucky enough to have Aaron Sorkin write what I have to say.

And I think it's very rare to have good stories, well written comedies.

It was important for me early on to find the voice of each character and figure out what was unique about them and their individual worldview that I could use for comedy or conflict.

Once I started to value and respect my characters, I could really hear them. I just let them start talking.

Writing a screenplay is so spare, it kind of reminded me that I really should celebrate what I can do in a book, which is description: for example, places, people, locations.

A lot of the time, a comedy script is just dialogue, and that's the main thing you have to worry about.

In my films writers are more important than actors.

It always comes down to script and characters.

I write in character a lot.

Writing a whole series was a crash course in screenwriting, which is a very different muscle to standup comedy writing.

I have no problems or issues with screenwriting in general.

Because I was a television writer for many years, I write very conversationally. I put things straight, and with a lot of humor.

I'm a huge David Lindsay-Abaire fan. If I could write, I would want to write like him.

It's usually easier for me to begin writing in a character's voice if that person is different from me in some significant way.

I feel like I work on scripts for comedy as well as dramatic stuff the same.

Writing a TV show is totally different than writing features, or just, what I started doing is writing features. You write a little bit more organically. You start from the beginning to the end, beginning, middle and end.