McG Quotes

I don't care what TV show you work on, even a movie for that matter, it's all about time and money eventually.

You know, if a TV show dropped into my lap out of the blue, I would have a hard time turning it down because there just isn't the money in theater that there is on TV.

Increasingly, there's much better material on television, but there's not always the time and money to make it, so you've got to make sure you make it in the right place. It also depends on time commitment; a lot of directors will make a pilot, but a series is just a whole other level of involvement.

When you're making an independent film what you don't have in time and money you have to make up with creativity and diligence.

There's so little difference between television and features as far as you make the film. I mean, you have less money and it's a little quicker, but the concept is all on television.

Technology is a major tool in exploring and challenging your creativity, but it can also overtake your creativity... My mind goes very fast, and I can see all kinds of images that would be spectacular on the screen. But they would cost so much money, and would they really make the story that much better?

Michael Landon was the biggest influence. As a child, I watched him write, direct, star, and produce a TV show every week. He showed me what was possible.

Many creative people are finding that creativity doesn't grow in abundance, it grows from scarcity - the more Lego bricks you have doesn't mean you're going to be more creative; you can be very creative with very few Lego bricks.

Doing a TV show, you're on an assembly line and it's as cut and dry as that. There are some shows that are exceptions. There are producers that want really special things.

When we were doing 'Sports Night' and 'West Wing' at the same time, I thought I was the luckiest guy in the world because my two interests were politics and sports.

Money is a way of creating scarcity.

The only problem is time.

Every time I get in the studio, I feel like I wanna have some fun. My fun is not doing the easy work. My fun is doing what's me.

Necessity, the mother of invention

Filmmaking requires the participation and cooperation of many people. It's unrealistic to expect that you're not going to be challenged by unforeseeable forces from every direction.

Money is a resource for me and it is needed to make music.

Art chooses its constraints.

I enjoy writing the same way I enjoy doing standup. Part of the challenge is being creative and making it work no matter what the constraints.

Embrace your constraints. They are provocative. They are challenging. They wake you up. They make you more creative. They make you better.

Time is the one thing that is given to everyone in equal measure.

Being on the floor of a TV show is sometimes a quite frustrating experience.

A feature film is an expansion of budget, stress, story, hours, time, workload, everything.

The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees one

The biggest challenge [making Pineapple Express] was that we had a comedy budget. We really got excited the more we got into the development of it about blowing stuff up and having shoot outs. That stuff costs money.

I'm inordinately proud of Smash, on so many levels. The complexity of producing that show, every week, is just incredible. As a television producer and as a Broadway producer, which I once was, I am in awe of what we can do on that show, every week.