Julian Barratt Quotes

Drama and comedy, to me, are all about being surprising, coherent, and true, all at once.

I don't quite operate within the realist mode. I kind of push the stories out towards the cusp of believability - that's the area of interest for me.

Write what you know.

I seem to know all the cliches, but not how to put them together in a believable way. Or else these stories are terrible and grandiose precisely because all the cliches intertwine in an unrealistic way and you can't disentangle them. But when you actually live a cliche, it feels brand new, and you are unashamed.

When guys do books or stories, all I like to see is the truth.

The laws of literary creation are unique; they don't change, and they are the same for everyone everywhere. I mean that you can tell a story that covers three hours of human life or three centuries - it comes to the same thing. Each writer who creates something authentic in a natural way instinctively also creates the technique that suits him.

The best stories come out of the truth.

I don't steer towards anything. I steer towards character and truth. If it's funny then so be it. If it's dramatic, so be it. I just steer towards characters.

I always felt that if I was going to do a movie, I wanted it to be authentic.

All stories should have some honesty and truth in them, otherwise you're just playing about.

We're all going to keep telling love stories, we're all going to tell hero stories. It's all a question of what your own thumbprint, your own DNA, is, and what it brings to the table that makes it unique.

Do you think I am standing here, making this up as I go? I am sorry to disillusion you. I am not Robin Williams. I am the king of the pen.

A good comic explores the imagination, but it's always got to have those notes of truth running through it.

Without any intended hubris, I've lead a pretty exciting life. What I've tried to do in Mission Compromised is draw on those experiences to create a sense of excitement and realism within the story.

The challenge in daytime in particular, I think, is to go against all the traditional cliches of daytime and try to make it real.

Tell your own story, and you will be interesting.

I don't tend to write straight dramas where real life just impinges. But because I don't, when I do, it is very interesting to slap people in the face with just an absolute of life.

It's not just that reporting gives you a bigger slice of life, gives - lends verisimilitude to what you are doing - it's that it feeds the imagination.

I don't know if I've ever read a movie that's as strange and unpredictable and hilarious and wonderful as the stuff we're doing on 'The Last Man on Earth.' It's jaw-dropping every week when I get a script, because it goes to such strange places.

There are millions of people who think that romance isn't real writing. But the only person who can make you real, make your books real, is you.

If you're contriving something, if you're making something up, it's not funny. You can tell. It's instant. It has to come from someplace real.

Write your own stories.

I love entertaining and I love storytelling.

There is so much competition and content floating around right now, so comedy has to have a lot quirk and heart.

I don't have any writers. I never get a laugh with somebody else's jokes. I can't do it justice.