Dick Wolf

Everybody knows things are not the same. The people running the TV end of a major vertically integrated company know how much money a successful show can make. ”

It's show business. No show, no business. ”

Drama or comedy programming is still the surest way for advertisers to reach a mass audience. Once that changes, all bets are off. ”

The most positive step is to try to expand the employment base by making it, if not economically friendly, at least not economically disastrous, for studios to take on deficits. ”

There was an interesting article in Los Angeles Magazine about women directors. A woman director makes one bad independent film and her career is over. Guys tend to get an opportunity to learn from their mistakes. ”

Their argument is that most shows are losers, which is true, but it's also disingenuous to say, 'We are not going to take the risk unless it is totally covered by the few successful shows that are out there.' ”

The environment doesn't change that radically. You are still going to go home at night and NBC is going to be there, ABC and CBS will still be there. ”

People do have viewing patterns, and you disrupt those at your own peril. That's something that everybody learned after 1988. The numbers have gone down every year since that strike. Big time. ”

There are other options out there, after all, like read a book, go on the Internet, rent a movie. ”

It was like in Samoa when they'd put up a movie screen on the beach and show movies and the locals would run behind the sheet to see where the people went. It was pretty grim. ”