TV is generally an unfriendly environment for directors because you're expected to come in and tell a story in the voice of the show that already exists and just fill in the blanks and then submit it back.
TV feels quite constipated, and the thing I find particularly difficult is the branding of the channels where it's not 'Is it a good script?' but 'Is it a BBC2 script?'
If your ratings are high and there's money being made, you're allowed to be a perfectionist in television.
I think it's not uncommon for new television shows to spend certainly the first year, but without a doubt, like, the first eight or ten episodes, kind of figuring out what the show is.
Getting into network television was tougher than I thought it was gonna be.
I think, a lot of times, network shows are under a lot of mandates. There's a lot of moving pieces. There's a lot of money. There's a lot of people who are going to be disappointed if anything goes wrong.
[George Carlin] was obsessive about time; he was obsessive compulsive about his material and making things shorter and more perfect. He did an HBO hour every other year. It's live; you have to be off-stage at 55 minutes. It's a network; you've got to be off. And it's perfect.
Networks are reluctant to take a chance. They put on shows that they know will work on some level, but to get the innovative show, it's very difficult.
They're pretty particular about what they show. They certainly edit the scripts and have conversations with the writers about what they are and aren't willing to portray. But the writers and the network are pretty much on the same page.
When you're with a big TV channel, there's a sense of having to behave in a certain way in order to get audience figures.
Internet governance is an oxymoron. The Internet must govern itself. But you can't play cricket without any rules.
