Quote

Directing television is really hard - it's so fast. You shoot an hour show in seven days.

Sometimes you shoot for 40 or 50 hours for a one-hour show, and you have to make some very hard choices.

I think film requires a lot more patience and concentration and each day you're keeping the entire picture in your head throughout a two to three month film shoot. Whereas TV, especially half hour, is like doing a play a week or live theater.

With TV, you just have to finish the days and get the episodes out. And it's always going to be an impossible schedule. That's the funny thing with TV that not a lot of people realize.

In television you don't have a lot of time to spend with the role or the script. Typically you get a script a week prior to shooting. Sometimes it's even less time, not enough time to dream about the role.

You have a schedule that you really have to stick to with TV and make sure that you are producing enough film for the network to edit through and air quickly.

TV is like a school. It is easy to shoot for a film. In movies, you have a definite start and end. You know your character is there for a particular period.

Often times people complain about the lack of time in television, but I have to say, you don't have any more time to film in feature films then you do in television. It's just a question of how many scenes you'll be doing in the course of a day.

Doing a sitcom is like doing a play - you rehearse for three or four days, and then you shoot what you rehearsed on Friday night in front of an audience. An hour-long drama is like shooting a movie. You're shooting 13-14 hour days. The endurance itself is different.