I think there's a fear of disconnect sometimes; communication is a huge issue for all of us, from adults to kids, as far as our face-to-face time and our ability to interact with each other without isolating itself to a phone. I think that has to be something that's very challenging.
— Jim Rash
I love discussing the ins and outs of the collaborative nature of writing.
I was very much a latchkey kid. My parents would feel the back of the television to make sure I hadn't been watching it when they were gone, which inevitably I was.
Some people like to purge out a draft and just let it go and then go back and fix it, but I'm a writer-rewriter. I can't move on until I feel like it's presentable.
I remember lying on the floor of my room, staring at a black-and-white television for most of the '80s - watching 'Diff'rent Strokes,' 'Facts of Life,' 'Silver Spoons,' Saturday morning cartoons, and 'Murder, She Wrote' while eating an insane amount of Stouffer's French bread pizza. I was sucked into it all.
I think what makes a good show is obviously a rabid fan base.
The director in TV and the writer and the creator are working very much hand in hand.
'Game of Thrones' is taking dense novels and trying to shrink it all down to a slightly manageable series in the sense that there are so many characters and so many locations.
Working out has always been a stress reliever for me. I don't know if it's so much vanity as it more just keeps my mind from going crazy.
Nobody is completely perfect.
With writing, I love doing it, but there's that love-hate relationship: You're not having a good run, you've hit a wall; it's frustrating.
I think fans have an outlet. Through social media, you can hear them.
As long as a teaser saves some things, that's good.
I feel like my experience on 'Community' was that I saw just how important that first year is for a series. That is where you work all the pieces out, and that means honing the characters' voices, setting that tone, finding your angle.
I think that getting responsibility and structure are huge parts of growing up.
For there to be a 'Community' movie just seems like an appropriate way for the show to go out. That would be my perfect end.
In television, the writer-creator-showrunner is embraced as the creative mind.
One summer, when I was a kid, I was in the car with my stepfather, and he was asking me where I thought I ranked, on a scale of 1 to 10. I said, '6,' and he said, '3.' I think it was his way of telling me that I needed to get out and really attack life.
I will say you could always look at 'Looney Tunes' and learn about writing. I think you can learn a lot about the beats of comedy. I think you can find out about awkward pauses, because I think they did those well.
With Saturday morning cartoons, you've got to start at 6 A.M., right?
In truth, I have always been amazed by a group of people who all work toward putting one person's vision forward - that's an interesting story for me.
I was raised, I feel like, on television, definitely a child of TV, and was always fascinated by storytelling.
I can't wait to meet Steven Spielberg or Al Pacino again so I can say, 'I have to tell you how you know me. You know me because I am the worst actor in the world.'
There are writers' rooms that will write episodes all together, who will break into little groups and write certain scenes. Everyone's process can be a little bit malleable. Everyone tries to get into a groove or find what works for their room.
The idea of just improvising and riffing can sometimes be at the expense of story.
I think most co-directors and co-writers just hold hands.
My family was perfect.
Can you imagine watching 'All in the Family' and having an outlet like Twitter? Where you could discuss it while it's happening? I think that would be a really interesting thing.
I watch too much TV.
I think that... I would say that sometimes people get afraid of when you're balancing comedy and drama.
I think the community that's created within a writers' room is a very interesting topic.
For young boys, just to know you exist in any capacity is a strong feeling.
When you're talking about people like Shonda Rhimes, Vince Gilligan or Beau Willimon, you're talking to people who are notable and celebrities in their own right. People want to know how their brains work.
We all know that technology has advanced to the point of watching TV online.
When you get onstage, you can see everyone in the audience's face, down to the detail. You can see who may or may not be yawning.
I loved 'Dungeons & Dragons'. That was actually a good cartoon to me.
When you stop thinking about something, the idea comes to you. It seems to work.
I am always up to steal secrets from smart people.
I like to believe we're always looking to evolve as writers.
Old beach houses sometimes don't have TVs, or you don't get cellphone reception.
'Dexter,' while the pilot shares moments with the novel that created the character of Dexter, they completely abandoned the book from that moment on.
To me, if people really want to improvise, get into classes and learn.
You'd just die if you put your head to the grindstone.
I think what's cool about a body-switching movie is, 'The grass is always greener:' the idea that someone else has a better life than I do.
People are vocal, so you hear the pros and cons of your shows.
I loved 'Lost,' from beginning to end.
Look at people that influenced me - but I didn't know if I had that sort of 'I'm going to take you under my wing' person.
I think the networks, in general, have to evaluate what's happening around them. I'm sure they're scared about a lot of things: Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and all these places that allow people to watch shows in chunks.
When I teach sketch writing, there's still a beginning, middle and end.
On the movie side of things, the difficulties come with so few movies being made, and when they are, it seems that it's a marketing game. Story sometimes takes a backseat to that one grand marketing idea.
