Mike White
Mike White
Writer, producer, actor, and director who was on Enlightened on HBO.
ProfessionTV Producer
Date of Birth28 June 1970
CityPasadena, CA
giving scripts needs
I don't even give my scripts to friends because I just feel it's, like, I don't need one more set of opinions.
letting-go expectations victory
There's a victory in letting go of your expectations.
adventure men sweat
I've never been to the Oscars, but if I was ever invited to the Oscars, I would have this weird paranoia of terrorism. It just feels like The Poseidon Adventure, everyone in their tuxes. Somehow, I feel like the whole time I would be looking for where the nearest exit was, and in a cold sweat about some kind of man-made disaster, like a terrorist strike or something. It seems like such a scary, claustrophobic proposition.
writing want enjoy
For me, writing is a solitary thing and a personal thing. And it's weird, because when you make something that requires money and collaborators, you have to talk about them. I don't enjoy that part of it. I still want to keep it to myself.
writing plot feels
I feel like I know how to write plot.
religious rocks rock-music
I grew up in a religious family, and we weren't allowed to listen to rock music.
writing trying stuff
I guess I'm trying to write stuff that I, as a viewer, would connect to.
people life-is conversation
I feel like so much of my life is about a conversation I'm having with myself. I do interact with other people, but often I'm more interested in what I'm learning in the relationship I have with myself.
thinking culture existentialism
I think living in our culture right now, there's a universal experience where we feel like we become what we do. Sometimes that's rewarding and sometimes that creates an existential crisis.
whole-life whole seekers
My whole life I've been a seeker, searching for something.
character compassion trying
My impulse is to create an aesthetic that's about a humanistic approach to a world and trying to create compassion for all the characters.
character thinking appreciate
I actually think it's helped me as a writer to have to act. It's only when you actually start putting yourself out that you appreciate the anxiety that comes with having to try to sell a line, or with trying to own a character.
smart writing people
I started out writing when I was young; stuff about exposing the truth about how people are not what they appear, about how they are much more dysfunctional than they seem. Pulling back the curtain - that felt smart. But as I got older, exposing how frail people can be seems less and less deep.
nice annoying feels
I can be really annoying, but I also feel like I'm a nice person.