Alan Ball
Alan Ball
Alan Erwin Ball is an American writer, director, and producer for television, film, and theatre...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Producer
Date of Birth13 May 1957
CityMarietta, GA
CountryUnited States of America
achieve best focus great jobs maximize people result results stay whose work
I really feel like my goal, and I don't always achieve it, is to do the best work I can do, and stay out of the results. Because ultimately, the result is not what the work is about. There are other people whose jobs are to focus on those results and maximize them, and that's great. Let them do their job.
running jobs fun
As a writer, it's fun to create. And once you get into a long-running show with very established characters and a very established tone and format, after a while it's a really great job, but that's what it is - a job.
meaningful jobs frustrated
I need to feel like the work I'm doing is not necessarily important, but meaningful, at least to me, because otherwise it just becomes a day job. It just becomes factory work and I get really frustrated.
atmosphere create forced grieve people process
I wanted to create an atmosphere that kind of forced people to grieve and go through the process of grieving,
abyss five lighter ready staring tone
I was ready to do something a little lighter in tone than 'Six Feet, ... Five years of staring into the abyss was enough.
great wish
I wish you all the best, son, you have been great on Merseyside.
awful child describe guess lose loses parent word
You know what I find interesting? If you lose a spouse, you're called a widow, or a widower. If you're a child and you lose your parents, then you're an orphan. But what's the word to describe a parent who loses a child? I guess that's just too f**king awful to even have a name.
authentic characters complexity create heroes infinite life
I didn't want to create a world of heroes and villains. I wanted to create a world of infinite complexity and confusion, ... I just wanted to see characters try to live an authentic life in a world that's increasingly inauthentic.
behind characters love pain suffering
We love these characters and we love them even when they're unlikable, ... We always see the pain and suffering behind the unlikable behavior.
love matter
We love them no matter what they do,
certainly continue fortunate gets good guy work
I certainly feel fortunate in my career to have been able to continue to work in different mediums. I don't ever want to be the guy who gets really good at one thing and just does that over and over and over again.
although aware death early fall high life mortality sort
Death showed up in my life very early on, so I'm aware of it. If you look at most of the things I write there's a sort of contemplation of mortality - although 'True Blood' doesn't fall into that. Even though there's such a ridiculously high body count!
burn crash depending directing great happens movies people permission stop wait
Depending on what happens with my directing career, I don't think I'll stop writing, even if I crash and burn in movies and TV. I'll go back to plays. Even if I crash and burn there, I'll write a novel. That's the great thing about writing is that you don't have to wait for people to give you permission to do it.
cannot hold
You cannot hold a child accountable to the same standards that you hold an adult accountable to.