Shawn Ryan

“There will always be economic pressure to make hits, identify hits, and then exploit hits. And you're going to exploit them with as many episodes as you probably can.”

“I think the bar is higher these days in terms of audience expectations of authenticity.”

“There are certain economics involved in making a network TV show that you want to amortize the costs of that, so the more episodes you make, the cheaper they all are individually.”

“Working as a showrunner has made it tougher to watch other shows and movies.”

“I've spent a lot of time thinking about what the audience would want. That's my job, is to anticipate ahead of the audience.”

“I would say on a creative level I put a lot of pressure on myself.”

“I was never that kid who grew up in New York and was always at the arthouse watching important films. I was the kid who grew up in the Midwest where there weren't any art films, and I watched TV. And that was really the medium that affected me and that I fell in love with.”

“I still feel driven to try to make great shows and to make each episode great.”

“I've worked in network and cable on and off for a number of years, and you just understand what your parameters are. A lot of times, I think the best work that my team has come up with comes from having to deal with certain boundaries.”

“To this day, nothing makes me happier than finding a TV show I really love.”

“The payment for sins can be delayed. But they can't be avoided.”

“I have no problem at all going back and forth between cable and network.”

“Everyone in Hollywood who is successful becomes less successful at some point. I'm just trying to delay that fall for as long as I can.”

“I'm very humble in terms of knowing that television is an extraordinary collaborative medium and that one person alone cannot make a great TV show.”

“I'm perfectly happy to color within the network lines when I have to.”

“I don't ever want to have a weak episode of television with my name on it.”

“In order to appeal to a wider audience on network in order to survive, generally your characters need to be, at a base level, a little bit more likable.”

“I don't want my writing to be so unique that when you apply it to different genres, it seems like the previous show that people know you from.”

“TV is just such a fast-moving medium that you do what you can do, and what you can't do, you don't worry about too much.”

“I don't want my writing to be recognized.”