Latest Jenji Kohan Quotes from Interviews

As long as there are still interesting stories and still interesting people that we want to meet, I can keep it going. But, we all have to be invested. If the room starts getting bored or I start getting restless, then we'll either have to change something in the show or maybe end it.

Jenji Kohan

Bored, Long, People

Source: collider.com
But, I like the challenge of, "How can we stretch this out? Where can we go with it?" It's an open road, especially at Netflix. You can take it anywhere you want.

Jenji Kohan

Challenges, Netflix, Want

Source: collider.com
I think my immediate reaction was, "I'm so tired. I need a little more time." But, it was very quickly followed up by excitement. It's very flattering, and it's a wonderful vote of confidence. We dream of getting to do what we do.

Jenji Kohan

Dream, Tired, Thinking

Source: collider.com
I begged her to write a song and she said yes. I am a huge Regina Spektor fan. I think she's a genius and just a lovely soul, and I wanted her voice on it. And she agreed, which is just the coolest thing, ever. She knocked it out of the park.

Jenji Kohan

Song, Writing, Thinking

Source: collider.com
But if I had my way, there would be so much more, in everything. It's so vital and integral in life, and it should be reflected in what we're watching, if we're reflecting our experiences. And it's hot. I love the sex stuff, and I want more.

Jenji Kohan

Sex, Way, Hot

Source: collider.com
You spend so much of your life crafting this stuff that you want to laugh in the room. I don't want to sit there and slit my wrists. And I think it reflects reality. People use humor to survive, even in the most horrific situations.

Jenji Kohan

Thinking, Reality, People

Source: collider.com
I think it would be exhausting and depressing, to write, to watch and to live, if it was just focused on drama. It's heavy. Also, I think the humor really highlights the pathos and the struggle. You can slam it up against drama, and it makes both shine.

Jenji Kohan

Depressing, Drama, Struggle

Source: collider.com
First of all, I find everything funny, which is upsetting to my children sometimes, and to people in my life, in general.

Jenji Kohan

Children, People, Upset

Source: collider.com
I think shows that are completely dramatic are a lie. People use humor to cope. That is how we deal with things. In the darkest situations, there's humor. And if you don't show that, you're not being true to real life.

Jenji Kohan

Lying, Real, Thinking

Source: collider.com
Also, this is our lives for a huge part of the year and we did not want to be in prison, 24/7. It was too oppressive. So, we were like, "How can we get out? Let's see their lives, a little bit." That was really fun.

Jenji Kohan

Fun, Years, Want

Source: collider.com
We fell in love with different people. Looking back, we might have done it in a different order, but we got invested. We really wanted to do the flashbacks because we wanted to explore who these women were on the outside versus the inside, and get a fuller picture of the masks we wear.

Jenji Kohan

Order, People, Different

Source: collider.com
We watched these auditions and could only pick one. Sometimes we would add new characters 'cause we wanted to use another actress. There were so many people who were just waiting for something like this.

Jenji Kohan

Character, People, Waiting

Source: collider.com
I'm always looking for a nexus, where you can put all these diverse people together, see how they respond to one another, see what they learn about each other, and what they like and don't like.

Jenji Kohan

People, Together, Nexus

Source: collider.com
Even during the casting process, the pools of talent are so deep when you have a call for Latin women or black women or a middle-aged woman because they never get their shot. There's so much talent there.

Jenji Kohan

Latin, Black, Casting

Source: collider.com
You want everyone to be a full character. No one is just evil, or very few people are, hopefully. They're characters, so you want to flush them out. You've got to show all sides of them. There is definitely an antagonistic relationship between guards and prisoners, and I do think it flares up.

Jenji Kohan

Character, Thinking, Flare Up

Source: collider.com
It was enormously challenging because you want that all-American girl, but you also want the cool WASP, privileged white girl. Usually, women in that package aren't funny.

Jenji Kohan

Girl, White, Challenges

Source: collider.com
We did tons of research. We went to visit a prison. We had speakers. We have read tons of supplementary material, books and articles. We are constantly emailing articles around the writers' room. We have dipped ourselves in prison culture and lore and media, and the experience and the people. We really want to be as informed as possible.

Jenji Kohan

Book, Media, People

Source: collider.com
The oppression of it, the sense of helplessness, and really being part of a system and a bureaucracy that is arbitrary. I never thought of the depth of losing your freedom and what that meant. And I was surprised and delighted by ways people maintain their humanity and try to survive.

Jenji Kohan

People, Humanity, Trying

Source: collider.com
Piper reads the scripts, and we email a lot. Most of her comments are on the more technical side, like "This wouldn't happen. This is against the rules." She's been extremely respectful of our taking her story, and then veering left with it and taking it in its own direction. But, I always want her involved because she's the mother of all this.

Jenji Kohan

Mother, Email, Stories

Source: collider.com
I don't set out to write female lead shows, necessarily. I like deeply flawed characters. When they come to me, or when I'm introduced to them, I follow the stories and the people, rather than setting out to do a female lead thing.

Jenji Kohan

Writing, Character, People

Source: collider.com
If you go to a network and say, "I wanna do prison stories about black women and Latino women and old women," you're not gonna make a sale. But, if you've got this blonde girl going to prison, you can get in there, and then you can tell all the stories. I just thought it was a terrific gateway drug into all the things I wanted to get into.

Jenji Kohan

Girl, Drug, Black

Source: collider.com
We're also talking a lot in the room about planting seeds that can grow over the course of the season, knowing that people might be watching them in bulk. We'd like to bury some Easter eggs and let people find them, later on.

Jenji Kohan

Easter, Talking, Eggs

Source: collider.com
I think a good story, well told is a good story, well told, whether you're watching the episodes all in a row or not. However, it might be fun to take a closer look at how the previous episode ends and how that end relates to the beginning of the next episode.

Jenji Kohan

Fun, Thinking, Looks

Source: collider.com
But, how many times can you get exactly what you want, when you want it? Not very often. So, why not have it with entertainment? That's what it's fun. It's fun! I find that's how I'm watching, more and more. My kids go on binges, and I get sucked in. And then, it's the middle of the night and they're late for school, the next day.

Jenji Kohan

Fun, School, Kids

Source: collider.com
To be able to be there first, I love the pioneer thing. It's exciting to me. And they pay full rate, they're really nice, they support the work, and they said yes. What could be bad? It's the Wild West. You can do what you want.

Jenji Kohan

Nice, Support, Pioneers

Source: collider.com

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Born: July 5, 1969
Occupation: Television writer
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