Sam Levinson

“I can only get to a certain point as I write and then I have individual conversations with everyone that I cast. I always do a rewrite based on the conversations.”

“So I think it's important to just keep in mind that the work doesn't end when the scene ends. You want to check on someone to make sure everyone's good, and also create an environment where everyone is rooting for one another.”

“I studied method acting for four years and I'm a big believer in the idea that it's not about the actual experience itself. You don't have to go through exactly what this character has gone through.”

“But we're not this one stupid thing we said three years ago, or ten years ago, or even last week. We seem to judge people as if they are.”

“I was very sensitive, so when sensitivity has no place to go, it's often turned into anger or frustration.”

“If you look at 'Network' or any kind of satire, it's fundamentally unemotional in some ways.”

“I looked at theater, in the sense that theater is unmanipulated. If I want to pay more attention to one character on stage than another, I can. I think there's not enough theater in film and not enough film in theater, in a way.”

“I'm writing, I'm directing, I'm editing, I'm mixing, I'm showrunning. There is a certain point where it's like, the work is the work.”

“I remember John Waters's 'Pink Flamingos,' that was the film where I realized you could do anything you want - there were no boundaries.”

“I don't really plan too much ahead when I write, because otherwise, I get kind of bored.”

“When 60 - 70 percent of all interpersonal conversations and relationships exist through text messaging or social media, it's hard to get advice from a parent who didn't grow up in that world.”

“I don't even like getting my picture taken because I feel terrible about the way I look. I'm so self-conscious about things.”

“There's always certain actors that are interested in certain things and other actors who aren't.”

“Everything is spectacle. Everything is entertainment, whether it's shame, invasion of privacy, abuse, no matter what it is it's become almost a sporting event. It's like the new Roman Coliseum in a way.”

“I spent the majority of my teenage years in hospitals, rehabs and halfway houses.”

“The way that I deal with actors as a director is I just talk to them forever before we even arrive on set.”

“I always wanted to write and direct films for as long as I can remember.”

“For me, there's far too many close-ups in film. They're a television technique.”

“Sometimes you can just have a dialogue with an actor beforehand and shape the performance then, but other actors need more guidance on the set.”