Latest Shawn Ryan Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• Nothing makes me happier than to have a smart person tell me why the show is smart, especially if I didn't intend that. I tend to be a very instinctual writer, and I don't plot shows out like, "This is my thesis and this is how I'm going to subtly sneak my thesis into this episode." I just approach it from, "We know these characters well, here are the situations that they're in, now how would they behave? What would the consequences be?" And it's always fun to see how people interpret that and dissect it afterward, and make me and the other writers seem probably smarter than we really are.

  Shawn Ryan

  Fun, Smart, Character

• There are story-room sessions where you think about the big picture, like a novel, but once you have certain things in place, you have to treat each episode like an hour of TV, and think that maybe this will be the only episode that anyone will ever watch. You want to have some sort of beginning, middle, and end to the episode, even if you have storylines that are carrying over. You still want it to feel like a cohesive hour of entertainment. And you can't think about both at the same time.

  Shawn Ryan

  Thinking, Over You, Hours

• When you start a TV show, you're not necessarily thinking, "Are we setting up what we need for season seven?" You're just trying to stay on the air, and you try to learn your job as you go, and do what you can.

  Shawn Ryan

  Thinking, Trying, Seven

• I always think it's better to take your time and go through a lot of ideas - and dismiss a lot of ideas - before figuring out where to land. It's a good way to care for your audience, too. If you spend hours and hours and days and weeks coming up with the ending, then there's a chance the fans won't figure it out on their own.

  Shawn Ryan

  Thinking, Care, Chance

• I've always read a lot of historical books and I'm a big fan of documentaries, and I've always thought of ways to do it.

  Shawn Ryan

  Book, Historical, Fans

  Source: collider.com

• The worst thing you can do is end up with a network show on cable or end up with a cable show on network.

  Shawn Ryan

  Ends, Worst, Shows

  Source: collider.com

• Obviously there are different standards and practices that are allowed on cable versus network. You just have to embrace what your network is going to allow.

  Shawn Ryan

  Practice, Different, Embrace

  Source: collider.com

• Cheers was one of the first shows where I paid attention to the writers because their [work] was better than everything else I was watching. The writers weren't afraid to let a joke fall slightly flat if it advanced the characters.

  Shawn Ryan

  Cheer, Fall, Character

  Source: www.gq.com