J. J. Abrams

“I love the idea of anthropomorphizing machines. I love the idea of taking technology and giving it a personality.”

“When you work on something that combines both the spectacular and the relatable, the hyperreal and the real, it suddenly can become supernatural. The hypothetical and the theoretical can become literal.”

“I've never done Twitter.”

“The Internet now provides an immediate and very clear consensus of what it is that the audience is experiencing. It's something that you should never let lead you, and yet at the same time, you should never ignore it.”

“You can never guess or assume what anyone is going to think.”

“The ability of a television series to make adjustments is something you've got to take advantage of.”

“Whenever a toddler sees a pile of blocks, he wants to tear it down.”

“It's a leap of faith doing any serialised storytelling.”

“I'm a fast writer.”

“When I was a little kid - and even still - I loved magic tricks. When I saw how movies got made - at least had a glimpse when I went on the Universal Studios tour with my grandfather, I remember feeling like this was another means by which I could do magic.”

“I hope to make movies that are so small they don't need to make anything to be profitable.”

“Stories in which the destruction of society occurs are explorations of social fears and issues that filmmakers, novelists, playwrights, painters have been examining for a long time.”

“When I was a kid, among the other embarrassing things I would do, and there's a list of stupid things, but I would make these dumb comedy tapes. I would often make prank phone calls, but I would also do it with friends.”

“We live in an age of instant knowledge. And there's almost a sense of entitlement to that.”

“I find that it's hard to fully examine one's life and not have faith be part of the discussion.”

“As a director/writer/producer, all you ever want is to work with actors who make you look better, who make the work you do seem as good as it can be and even better than it is.”

“I'm obsessed with things that are distinctly analogue.”

“When there's an authentic mystery, as opposed to just a question being asked, that's what makes you lean forward.”

“I love movies with spectacle but spectacle can be a performance, it doesn't have to be a creature.”

“I think that even if you're wondering if two characters are ever going to kiss, drawing out the inevitability is part of the fun. Whatever the genre happens to be.”