Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" Spielberg read the 'Understudy' and decided that was the voice he wanted to write 'Smash.' He wanted a story that had humanity and humor and high-stakes dreams. "

Theresa Rebeck

Humor

Dreams

Humanity

Related Quotes:

" Everyone pays lip service to this whole idea of doing more new plays, and nobody ever does it. "

" I think that because television is shot on a really fast schedule, and it gets piped into your home on a smaller screen, it's much more about character and dialogue in a lot of cases than the movies are. "

" In America, the average playwright makes less than a receptionist in a non-profit theatre. We don't have decent health insurance - or any health insurance at all. "

" I think it's straight men who are oblivious to goodness or badness to dates. That's probably unfair. Maybe they just don't complain as much. "

" I like to write. Prolific is part of who I am. "

Theresa Rebeck

Write

Who

" One thing I won't do in television is a sitcom. I find that world to be so neurotic and bizarre. "

" The movies are all about visual, and television is all about character and dialogue. "

" Does art have to have high foot traffic to get funded in a recession? A lot of people, I am sure, would say absolutely not. And those postmodern art-loving loners surely would argue that even if one person likes a piece of art, that would make a museum worthwhile. "

" Why on earth is the 'New Yorker' publishing puff pieces about pretty girls who go to parties? Does the 'New Yorker' ever run photos of cute boys just because they're cute and they come from money and they go to lots of parties? "

" I had such a good experience doing 'The Understudy' with the Roundabout, and people were really enthusiastic about the work. "

" Why is it so hard for men to identify with women as fellow travelers on this good Earth? "

" People kept saying, 'You've made it!' and I was like, 'What have I been doing all this time?' I've always felt successful. "

" The stage gives you more control over your own work; in television, there's a distressing amount of communal writing. Unless it's your show, you have no control over that. You're at the mercy of whoever's running the show. "

" I have admiration for people who can do it well - the guys who wrote 'Cheers' and 'Frasier.' They created sort of a blissful comedic universe. "

" I was born and raised in the Midwest, where people were taught that decency and integrity and community were all important values. We were democrats with a little 'd.' "

" Not so long ago, my feminist education taught me to ask the question, 'Is the gaze male?' The answer, apparently, is yes, which is why so many movies and television shows are about men and not women. "

Theresa Rebeck

Women

Movies

" I think we have a cultural difficulty with looking at our problems. "

" Because I'm an American woman, and I write straight plays, it's always been sort of assumed I would never be done on Broadway. But that was never the goal. "

" The ridiculous way that workplace politics are conducted completely gets in the way of excellence in America. "

" Is the American theatre allowing itself to become irrelevant? The problem isn't that playwrights aren't being paid enough. It's that theatres all over America are looking towards New York to tell them what new plays to do. "

" When I was a staff writer on 'NYPD Blue,' it was truly my job to hear David Milch's voice for that show and to deliver episodes that embodied that voice. "

" Heath Ledger's recent death, like that of River Phoenix, was handled with great care by the press. Anna Nicole Smith's not so much. "

Theresa Rebeck

Phoenix

River

" I have a dog whose name is Banquo. "

" There are so many people from many different classes and ways of life who converge in one space to make a musical. "

" It's sort of a mystery where ideas come from. "

" Moliere and Arthur Miller affected me at a very young age. In adulthood, I became overwhelmed by Chekhov. Those are my big theatrical influences. "

" Obviously, a theatrical masterpiece needs more than a plot; many television shows are nothing but plot, and it is doubtful that they will stand the test of time. But I also don't think that making fun of plot or acting like we're all somehow 'above' structure is such a good idea. "

" When people tell me I'm a prolific writer, it's a nice thing to say. But I think to myself, 'Yeah, but I don't do anything else.' "

Theresa Rebeck

Myself

Think

" It's so funny, I'm always stealing from Moliere, and nobody ever notices. I steal from him willy-nilly. "

" Generally, what I try to do is always have a money gig and an art gig. "