Andrea Seigel Quotes

We need the villain sometimes. It makes for an interesting story.

When you're not playing the hero of the story, then you have to know that you're always a foil for the good guy. I love playing that. I think that's always an interesting place to be.

With any good story, you need the adversary, the heroes and villains. You need a good mixture to make it work.

One of things that drives me nuts is you rarely get bad guys who are written very well.

Here's what happens in a play. You get involved in a situation where something is unbalanced. If nothing's unbalanced, there's no reason to have a play. If Hamlet comes home from school, and his dad's not dead and asks him if he's had a good time, it's boring. But if something's unbalanced, it must be returned to order.

The villain of any story is often the most compelling character.

Characters who are on screen from start to finish are not necessarily the ones who have the greatest impact.

Good stories are driven by conflict, tension, and high stakes.

Every drama requires a cast. The cast may be so huge, as in Leo Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina,' that the author or editor provides a list of characters to keep them straight. Or it may be an intimate cast of two.

If I've got one thing that I really believe about fiction and life, it's that there are no minor characters.

With a mini series you can give the story a proper sense of pacing, a proper sense of closure.

I'm certainly a plot and character man. Themes, structure, style - they're valid components of a novel and you can't complete the book without them. But I think what propels me as a reader is plot and character.

Think 'Game of Thrones.' In the old days, this sort of show might be considered bad writing. It doesn't really seem to be moving toward a crisis or climax, it has no true protagonist, and it's structured less like a TV show or a movie than a soap opera.

I love a really good storyline.

I can't think of a story that doesn't have something terrible in it. Otherwise, it's dull. So when I embarked into the world of picture books, my first thought was to do something about the dark.

Soap opera seems to be a dirty word, but actually they are the most popular shows we have. People want to know what happens next, people hate the villains and love the lovers. It's good, fun TV. But I wouldn't call 'Downton' a soap opera as such.

I'll tell you the secret. When you begin with a character, you want to begin by creating a villain.

The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture.

Tension is the cornerstone of any good story.

All I had, originally, were pages of Nolan's dialogue. I think his character serves the story in a nice way. He's a Greek chorus for the goings-on in the Hamptons.

I hate plots.

I firmly believe that a story is only as good as the villain.

The thing should have plot and character, beginning, middle and end. Arouse pity and then have a catharsis. Those were the best principles I was ever taught.

I just want to be a part of great stories, whether I'm part of an amazing ensemble cast or I'm leading it or the antagonist or whatever.

Character is plot, and casting is character.