Sergio Leone Quotes

So much of television is incredibly predictable. You watch the first five minutes and you know where it's going to go. If you can just create an element of surprise in both the storytelling and tone of a show, you're going to be way ahead of the pack.

The element of surprise is the most important thing and what keeps me interested in writing. I can feel it if I've written that predictable or boring line, and I will carry that around with me all day.

Just the idea of seeing a type of narrative we've not seen before is a chance to be surprised.

Often, I go and see films where I can see the beats coming. So, if I read something where I don't see the beats coming and it takes me somewhere unexpected, that's a great thing to build upon.

It's always very important to me to try to create a story that feels unpredictable. You can't jump ahead and see what's coming, but at the end, when you've watched the whole thing, it all feels inevitable.

For me, the worst writing generally just 'flips' things: this person's really a traitor; it was all a dream; etc. Nothing is so ruinous as a forced 'twist,' I think.

A story to me means a plot where there is some surprise. Because that is how life is - full of surprises.

For me, what is most important is the element of surprise. If I can surprise you with every film of mine, that is exactly what I am trying to do.

The most interesting things that happen in my books are usually the things that arise spontaneously, the things that surprise me.

I like the idea of shows where I don't know where I'll be at the end of the season.

You have to keep surprising your audience.

The problem in cinema is that you can never predict what will happen.

A book's flaws make it less predictable.

I've said in many interviews that I like my fiction to be unpredictable. I like there to be considerable suspense.

Surprise is key in all art.

Be unpredictable, be real, be interesting. Tell a good story.

Theater is about surprises and things that you haven't seen before on stage.

Always in my books, I like to throw that rogue element into a stable situation and then see what happens.

I'm obsessed with giving the audience something they don't see coming.

I always try to incorporate something in every book that I've never used before. Hopefully, spontaneity will keep readers reading.

What's challenging is to surprise the audience.

I always knew that if I was ever going to perform something that I wrote in front of an audience, I was going to do the thing I most like to experience as an audience member, which is to be tricked.

The director Steve McQueen has found a way to constantly include the element of surprise in his work, both as an artist and as a filmmaker.

That's the great thing about filmmaking: Things happen you don't know are going to happen at the end.

I always kept the fans happy. They always saw a different Rey, whether it was a mask, a design, a color. I never gave them the same thing twice and always kept them on their feet. They were always excited to see what Rey was going to bring to the table.