Mike White
Mike White
Writer, producer, actor, and director who was on Enlightened on HBO.
ProfessionTV Producer
Date of Birth28 June 1970
CityPasadena, CA
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.
voice giving bully
To me, I definitely stand in the corner of wanting to give voice to the bullied, and not the bully.
running horse trying
I'm not really a director or producer for hire. There's lots of big gigs out there, but I'm not looking to do that. Usually, when I'm directing or producing, I've written it myself. I'm not really trying to get on some big horse that's running through town. I just make my own stuff.
people want easy
You want to work with people who you like and have an easy rapport with.
issues rage used
I used to have a road-rage issue.
procrastination tools computer
I used to go online all the time, and then I had to stop myself... because I'm a writer, and it's like: to have a procrastination tool, like, within my computer... it was just getting too hairy.