Anne Sweeney Quotes

I've tried to stay out of the frame more as a director.

I actually hate reality TV! I know people love it, but when I watch, I'm analytical, and I'm like, 'This can't be real because of the camera position! And I see the cuts!'

There's a behind-the-scenes show that Oprah is doing that follows the final season of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show.' I find behind-the-scenes stuff fascinating. Like, whenever I watch a DVD, I always watch the special features and listen to the commentary first, before I even watch the movie.

On 'Game of Thrones', the people that I've met, of the people behind the scenes, was not even a scratch of the vast crew that actually does work on that show.

Even though I was playing myself on 'NCIS,' it was so cool to see how everything works behind a camera.

The way NXT has been from day one when I was asked to do it, 'Don't put me on camera. I do not need to be on camera unless it's absolutely necessary. This isn't about me, it's about the talent,' and everyone that works in NXT, that's what we think.

Things like 'I'm A Celebrity,' when they're going to a trial, they might reset the camera for a bit or give a briefing that's not on camera. But 'Big Brother,' you see everything.

We use all the takes that no one would ever use and often the moments before we say action, or before we say cut. No one's ever called and complained or anything like that. Everyone's just so grateful to get the work and to be on TV and all that.

I grew up on a set. The guys I hung around with were crew guys: the camera department, the prop guys. I was like the third kid through the door when I was a kid actor on Leave It To Beaver. I was always one of five guys who would have a couple lines. I was a journeymen actor in my first career, so I was appreciative of the journeymen on the set.

Generally I try to be on set as much as possible, especially during the early part of a season. I read all of the outlines and scripts and look at the auditions and the cuts for my other shows and give notes on all of that. There's a lot to do, but I enjoy nothing more than being on set because that's where the magic happens.

Direction is the most invisible part of the theatrical art. It's not like the conductor in the symphony orchestra performance because he's standing in front of you waiving his arms. You now what he's doing. You don't know what the director is doing unless you know a lot about theater and even then you can only deduce it. You know it when you go to rehearsal. You really know it when they are rehearsing something of yours. I learned more in the rehearsals for The Letter than I have ever dreamed of know in the theater as a critic. If it doesn't make me a better critic, I'm an idiot.

I love being backstage, or doing littler things like Blame Canada.

My parents do a lot of things behind the scenes that go unnoticed.

If you haven't already told your kids 'don't fellate the president' then you're probably a bad parent.

As a parent, all you want is for your kids to be safe but you don’t want to be over-protective and so you know that at some stage, they’re going to make their own mistakes and get hurt emotionally when all you want to do is protect them from that.

Child abuse is one of those issues that's very difficult to talk about because it's surrounded by guilt and shame and so on, but us avoiding that issue doesn't help those kids in need out there who need support.

If you have a kid and you try irony out on them, they don't get it at 7, 8 years old. You can't really hide the Internet from kids. It worries me some particularly because I've done Disney and Pixar stuff.

Why are people so afraid of giving their kids necessary information that might prevent an unwanted pregnancy or disease? But they're not worried about the violent nature of video games or movies or books.

Nothing reassures parents more than surrounding their kids with the kind of guys who have a lot of weapons and nothing to do on weekdays.

Looking into my future, I don't always want to be in front of the camera. I want to be behind the camera and bring to life those family members of mine or people that I knew or the kids I grew up. I want people to know the different facets of black people, brown people, all people.

I believe the approach we take to talking to our kids about drugs can, in some cases, mean the difference between life and death. So my approach is really simple: I just don't want them to die. And I want them to be able to save someone's life if they see someone die.

If there is some sort of trouble at home, kids don't think that James Bond is going to come save their mum from their dad, or their dad from their mum. They don't think, "Bond is going to come and save me." Superman is a different sort of idealized figure.

We are always going to put the best interests of kids above the rights, privileges and priorities of adults.

I usually befriend the camera department very early on in the film and drive them nuts. I'm constantly bombarding them with questions and going through the stills photography. A film set is a great place for me and I love it.

The network told me to get rid of Number One, the woman first lieutenant, and also get rid of 'that Martian fellow'... meaning, of course, Spock. I knew I couldn't keep both, so I gave the stoicism of the female officer to Spock, and married the actress who played Number One. Thank God it wasn't the other way around. I mean Leonard's cute, but...