I'm not hard to get along with.
The essence of jiu-jitsu is philosophy.
Every scene should be able to answer three questions: "Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don't get it? Why now?
When the three branches of government have failed to represent the citizenry and the mass of the media has failed to represent the citizenry, then the citizenry better represent the citizenry.
One person may need (or want) more leisure, another more work; one more adventure, another more security, and so on. It is this diversity that makes a country, indeed a state, a city, a church, or a family, healthy. 'One-size-fits-all,' and that size determined by the State has a name, and that name is 'slavery. '
Forget narrative, backstory, characterisation, exposition, all of that. Just make the audience want to know what happens next.
The main question in drama, the way I was taught, is always, 'What does the protagonist want?' That's what drama is. It comes down to that. It's not about theme, it's not about ideas, it's not about setting, but what the protagonist wants.
Happiness is not the natural state of mankind, and is never achieved from the outside in.
Liberty consists in doing what one desires.
I love involving actors at all levels - and they have to know that I want to hear their contributions, with dialogue, with story suggestions, with script changes, whatever.
Freedom is fragile and must be protected. To sacrifice it, even as a temporary measure, is to betray it.