You need to be invested in what happens. The characters are your conduit to the story. Many modern horror films are fun but not frightening because one has not connected with the characters.
If I haven't got someone to leave in five minutes for at least one of my films, then I'm not doing my job.
'Blues Clues' has been incredibly good to me, and I've been working so hard on it for so long that I take it very personally. I wouldn't want to do anything to jeopardize what so many kids love. So there's a lot of responsibility there.
In a mystery, the sleuth must be believably involved and emotionally invested in solving the crime.
Horror movies often work better when we have a stake in the game. The more we care about the characters, the more human they are to us, the more appealing they are to us and the more effective the horror tends to be.
If you don't care about somebody, you don't even bother to fight with them.
If you don't invest in the characters, you don't care if they get killed. It's more fun if you know them.
It's hard being the guy that brings in a song, because you're very, you know, it can be something that you get too sensitive about.
People that know me know I take stuff personally.
One, something emotional has to be at stake. There has to be something important for me that I'm writing about. And then two, I have to have a formal idea. Something has to be being worked out in poetry.
