Phoebe Robinson Quotes

The expected vertical line of Ikiru's narrative breaks when Kurosawa does a flash-forward in the middle of the film.

'Phantom' was for me an interesting technique of telling the story. You have one voice that it is in the present telling what is happening, and then there's one voice from the past that's also driving the story forward. And you know that the two story lines will meet eventually.

I like the fact that by mimicking the way memory works, a writer can actually write in a fluid way - one solid scene doesn't have to fall on another solid scene, you can just have a fragment that then dovetails into another one that took place 30 years apart from it.

What I always got excited about with 'Arrested Development' was the element of surprise.

The mini-series 'The Bronx is Burning' thoroughly embarrassed me the way the story was told.

Sometimes I start off shows by explaining to people that it's just a bunch of stories - I always say 'It's like standup, just less funny.'

Through eight years, 'How I Met Your Mother' has mastered the art of leading-edge comedy, emotional water-cooler moments, and pop culture catch-phrases.

Lots of people do stand up shows with no narrative, but I love a beginning, a middle and an end.

You have to tell a super story that has some fantastical element, but the human element is what's going to keep people watching.

The liveliest effusions of wit and humour are simply what the reader of a novel has a right to expect.

Using humor as a wedge into different kinds of stories is my go-to. I think anything I do would have some sort of streak of humor in it.

I've been told by people I respect that flashbacks only work if they have their own narrative, but they can't be part of the present narrative.

Anything that happens on any show is a plot contrivance because that's just storytelling.

If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there.

You don't have to underestimate your audience anymore. They'd actually like to laugh a little bit. So, the character came to me and once it's got its grips in you, there's nowhere to go.

I grew up on M*A*S*H and All In The Family and Cheers. And then around this time, this would have been '95, '96, I was so into Friends and Mad About You, the idea of being on a sitcom became a very real thing that I wanted. It was not so much a relief. It was really exciting. It's an amazing thing to be in front of an audience.

I still want to do a comedy series.

A novel must work as a story because no one's going to get to the other themes if you don't entertain the reader. But I like to have another layer of meaning, although you can read the book on one level and not bother with that other layer.

My favorite TV shows are Orange Is the New Black, House of Cards, Modern Family, and Veep.

I will do almost anything for the sake of a joke or for the sake of someone's real belief in something to help tell a story.

For me, suspense doesn't have any value if it's not balanced by humor.

I get approached to do shows all the time. There's a lot of money in sitcoms, but I've never been the kind of guy who wanted to do one. I don't think people want to see me saying "Honey, I'm home." It's just not my thing.

Television can take anything. It can take the most exaggerated of storytelling forms.

Forget narrative, backstory, characterisation, exposition, all of that. Just make the audience want to know what happens next.

This world of ours has been constructed like a superbly written novel: we pursue the tale with avidity, hoping to discover the plot.