You can't just come out and do the same moves that you always do because someone just basically came into the center of the ring and spun around on their head and did a back flip. Damon Lindelof More Quotes by Damon Lindelof More Quotes From Damon Lindelof If you're the guy who basically shows up with coal at the locomotive, they will put it in the train. Like, they won't even assess whatever or not it's good coal. Just throw it in there. Damon Lindelof coal guy shows I've always been really interested in the future, and I feel like all of the movies that I've been exposed to, over the course of the last 20 to 30 years, have shown me a future that I don't really want to be living in. Damon Lindelof lasts want years But I do think that, when you slow the conveyor belt down, the quality control tends to go up. You have a lot more time between seasons to talk about what worked and what didn't work, and plan for the future. And the pacing of the storytelling, particularly for on-going serialized dramas, means that you don't need to do non-essential episodes, just because you have to fill this pre-existing schedule. Damon Lindelof drama mean thinking You can watch an episode of Friends or an episode of Law & Order and just drop in, but you're not going to in the middle of Season 4, Episode 5 of Lost. It's like picking up a Harry Potter book and flipping to a chapter. You have to read it from beginning to end. Damon Lindelof law order book I think the idea that television has evolved to this place of real thematic richness and the fact that you no longer have to get 10 million people to watch your show in order to propagate its survival are the best things that have ever happened to storytelling in this medium. Damon Lindelof real order thinking Just put your best foot forward and hope for the best. You also have to acknowledge that you're going to make mistakes. Damon Lindelof hoping-for-the-best feet mistake If you're constantly hamstrung by worry that people aren't going to like it, you can't do your job. Damon Lindelof worry jobs people Hire people you get along with, and then let them do what they do best. Damon Lindelof people At some point, you can't take a risk just to take a risk because that's a betrayal, in and of itself. Damon Lindelof betrayal risk For us, there's an inherent process when you're ending something to be thinking about the beginning, as writers. Damon Lindelof inherent process thinking I place a higher value on work ethic than talent, because, in certain areas, you just need to cast, you need to cast actors with talent, you need to hire directors with talent, but I've worked with very talented people who have a poor work ethic, and the outcome is less desirable than people who are less talented and have an incredible work ethic. Damon Lindelof work-ethic directors people In television, I don't feel constraints. I feel a lot freedom to maneuver. Damon Lindelof constraints feels television I saw myself as a teacher's pet but with a little of Ed Haskell mixed in. I was the teacher's pet, but that didn't mean that I was trying to pull one over. Damon Lindelof myself pet trying teacher I believe that this idea of story or myth or this thing that Joseph Campbell writes about is sort of an inter-connective spiritual force - like The Force in 'Star Wars' - where it doesn't matter where you were raised, or what your background is, there are certain elements of story that totally appeal to you. Damon Lindelof you spiritual matter believe