So, there’s a conference on this weekend called What Happens Next? The Future of Story. The keynote speaker tonight was Hart Hanson, you might know him as the director of a little show called Bones though he was well-known in Canada before he became known in the US (we had him first, yay Canada and all that). Anyway, while I’d love to give you a transcript of his talk, that might make the conference organizers cranky so I’ll share a few of my favourite sound bites instead:
“It’s not supposed to be fun for the writers; it’s supposed to be fun for the audience.”
“The secret is to make people throw up around 8:07 [pm].”
“An audience wants the story to be over. An audience wants a happy ending and an audience wants to relax. Those are all things that someone who is conveying to a mass audience can’t possibly put up with.”
“I didn’t make this up; I wish I knew who did (I would give them credit): If you cleave to–if you support, as an entertainer–the basic values of your culture and society you have a much better chance of reaching a mass audience than if you challenge the morays and morals of the society.”
“Of all the lines I’ve gotten on American television: ‘Jesus is not a zombie.’ I’m so proud.”
“We get a lot of mail about Brennan’s insensitive statements about God, the Pope. I don’t know if anyone watches the show a lot; I make a lot of fun of the Pope’s hat. And I treasure every one of them. The funny thing, to me, is that the same letters will say, ‘Thank God, Booth was there to set you straight.’ I’m, like, I wrote that too! Apparently, I’m writing the atheist, but Jesus is writing Booth–I don’t know.”
“You have to be proud of what you do if you’re going to entertain a lot of people.”
[Note to cover my derriere: The punctuation is mine; the words are Hart Hanson's. Every effort has been made to be accurate in punctuating these quotes to remain true to the tone in which they were spoken.]
Hart Hanson is a funny guy and a smart guy. If you weren’t there, you missed out. I hope the rest of the conference is just as good! More to come.
