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There's exceptional work being done on television. Some of our great writers are writing for television. When you have things to choose from, you typically go after the writing - unless you're going after the money. There are fewer opportunities in film to make money with good writing, unless you're an action hero.

I think sometimes actors are drawn to good television because you have more time to sell it, you have more time to shape a character, and to tell a story, and that's really appealing.

Granted, the writers, directors, producers, and that community make a great deal of money. But they might be choosing to do a whole lot of other things for the living they make.

I'd say working on television is much, much tougher than films. But television has a great connect with a live audience, which is a refreshing change for us actors.

Nowadays, there are sometimes more producers than there are people in the cast, because it takes that much money to put a show on.

TV directing is fine because you can come in and do a TV show in a relatively short period of time, and that can pay the bills.

When we started looking at the bigger television ecosystem, you see that there's not that many serialized TV shows being made for TV. The economics are lousy: They don't sell into syndication well; they're expensive to produce.

Increasingly, there's much better material on television, but there's not always the time and money to make it, so you've got to make sure you make it in the right place. It also depends on time commitment; a lot of directors will make a pilot, but a series is just a whole other level of involvement.

Television allows for survival, which is the basic issue for me. You have to decide how much money is enough. You can't get carried away with the hunt for money. But there are times it shows up, and you need to grab it, and that allows you to hunt for a better script.

Unless you're a big movie star, regular television work is going to bring you more exposure than anything. Everybody has a television; not everybody goes to the movies.