John Landgraf Quotes

Writing for television is completely different from movie scriptwriting. A movie is all about the director's vision, but television is a writer's medium.

Developing a series is a next step for me.

Working on 'Mad Men,' everything is word for word. And, honestly, I couldn't come up with anything better than that, so it's fine.

In television, the writer-creator-showrunner is embraced as the creative mind.

When you're making a television show, it's about the story and arc of the show rather than any particular episode or director.

I'll always love movies. But there's something I love very much about TV, when you shoot episodes while other episodes are still being written.

If you're doing an hour-long show, you're working movie hours, doing a 12-15-hour day. We work three or four hours a day, and get every third or fourth week off to give the writers time to write. It's the cushiest job in Hollywood.

I am currently talking to one of the studios about making American Star as a TV series.

I guarantee there's people who watch television who have no idea how complicated it is to make a television show.

I have respect for anyone who helps a creator put a great television show on the air.

In television, the 60-minute series, 'The Wire' and 'Mad Men' and so on, the writer is the primary creative artist.

The stage gives you more control over your own work; in television, there's a distressing amount of communal writing. Unless it's your show, you have no control over that. You're at the mercy of whoever's running the show.

'Nathan for You' was my first time being in a writer's room, really.

My role on 'Silicon Valley' was so small that I didn't have a lot of influence anyway in the show. There are four guys who really write that show and run that show and then six or eight hanging out in a room kicking in a few bits.

For a writer, working in television is an incredibly rewarding medium. You're in charge of all aspects of production and get to see your vision come to life every week.

Working in MTV's development team, my days would consist of pitches and deciding which concepts we wanted to buy. We would then develop those into a pilot. Very few ended up making it to a full series, but if they did, I would manage the project alongside the show's creators.

I think that it's just extremely rare to see any kind of TV show that's completely written by one person, regardless of what any showrunner will tell you.

In television writing, even if you're running the writers room, it's a writers room.

When I create a TV show, it's so that I can write it. I'm not an empire builder; my writing staff is usually a combination of two kinds of people - experts in the world the show is set in, and young writers who will not be unhappy if they're not writing scripts.

There have been times - and not just on 'The Newsroom,' but on 'The West Wing,' 'Sports Night,' 'Studio 60'... - where it was hard to look the cast and crew in the eye, when I put a script on the table that I knew just wasn't good enough.

I literally will write Shonda Rhimes, the creator of 'Grey's,' an e-mail once a month or so and just say, 'Hey, I love you and thank you.' That was my moment. Because of that, I'm doing 'Magic City.'

I don't know much about making films or TV programs, but what's cool about being in the studio is that you have more time.

Usually in TV... A TV director could be anything from a main grip to just a glorified cameraman, and sometimes a director can be the person who is hired last. It's very much a producer's medium.

I'm not a Larry David. I don't have a 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and a 'Seinfeld' in me.

When you work in television, you're in the writer's room all the time.