Steve Zissis Quotes

I wasn't able to articulate it until after audience members gave feedback. And then, similarly, when we talked about the bromance being unique, I don't think Mark, Jay, and I really saw how special that aspect of that bromance was until our audience members sort of gave us feedback and let us know, "Hey, we've never seen a bromance like this before on television."

Everyone's encouraged to put things in their own words, to discover new things. So there's definitely an element of dynamic improvisation, for sure, which I think gives those scenes some of their energy, some of their electricity.

But to your point - you also raise a point, too, that it's not that, like, a bromance is necessarily a new thing. It's happened a lot in sort of big budget comedies in the past decade or so. But people have pointed out to us that we're doing a bromance, so to speak, but doing it in a different way that's even more authentic and real and sincere.

I mean, growing up in New Orleans when you're in seventh and eighth grade and you're into music and you're a dorky dude, you know, you listen to the entire Rush catalog and the entire Zeppelin catalog and you go through these, like, phases of classic rock. It definitely speaks to our dorkiness and the similar hometown that we grew up in, the similar sort of schooling we went through and friends we had.

But, look; it also exists for acts that are really established. It's not always a guarantee that you're going to do something that's going to be of quality. It's not always in your control. That's sort of how the business is. Because for the moment - for the moment, we're blessed.

One thing about our show that wasn't even in my awareness, but was brought to my attention by other people, is that our show is about these love-based relationships. Even though the characters are obviously going through different conflicts, you can really feel that the characters love each other. And they really try their best.

I think that people find that's a fresh look at a relationship between two best friends, between two soul mates, that people haven't really seen in this particular way. So that's definitely something that people are noticing.

So the audience, at times, lets us know actually what is so special about the show that we can't even necessarily design or predict. Which is great. That's what you want art to be. You want it to be alive and to actually have a life in the way it's viewed.

I just co-created a story for a Disney movie that I'm working on with my fiancée. And also about to finish up writing a T.V. pilot set in New Orleans that I'm really excited about. So I'm definitely trying to stay as busy as possible, for sure.

I really became aware of the fact that, oh yeah, whereas a lot of other shows are sort of cynical or jaded or just sort of coming from that sort of energy, our show is very, very about these love-based relationships. It really comes out, a lot of times, in a sweet way. And I think people find that refreshing about our show. That's one of the things I definitely picked up on.

Like we were saying, the fact that the relationships on the show are love-based, and in the sense that I wasn't aware of how special it was in contrast to a lot of the other TV shows that are on right now. It was our audience members that pointed out the love that you see in the show is special.

I don't think we're necessarily drawing from that specific sort of storyline, because I think we're all just super-blessed and grateful to have a show on HBO and to be working together and employed. But we are definitely speaking to things that our friends have experienced and others in our realm have experienced, for sure.

I love working that way, and that's sort of the way that Mark, Jay, and I have been working for years, where we start with scripts that are really solid and well-written. But once we get into the scene and we start doing the work, we definitely loosen things up.

So even these stages of progression, whether it's your career or whatever, you get somewhere, but then it always brings a new host of issues that are relative dissatisfactions to a certain degree. I think it was a great philosopher who once said, "Mo' money, mo' problems."

To be honest with you, I don't know how even to articulate it at this point, because sometimes the real difference in the seasons perhaps will come in the way the viewership responds and the audience responds. The thing about the show is - we realign a lot about it once our audience watches it. We learn things that we can't even anticipate.