Q: You and Larry David wrote Seinfeld together, without a traditional writers’ room, and burnout was one reason you stopped. Was there a more sustainable way to do it? Could McKinsey or someone have helped you find a better model?
JS: Who’s McKinsey?
Q: It’s a consulting firm.
JS: Are they funny?
Q: No.
JS: Then I don’t need them. If you’re efficient, you’re doing it the wrong way. The right way is the hard way. The show was successful because I micromanaged it—every word, every line, every take, every edit, every casting. That’s my way of life.
~ Daniel McGinn, Life’s Work: An Interview with Jerry Seinfeld (HBR, Jan-Feb 2017)
Blog Post Title Credit: The Independent – Seinfeld at 25: The Show’s Best Quotes
Bonus Quote: Jerry Seinfeld: “You know the message you’re sending out to the world with these sweatpants? You’re telling the world, ‘I give up. I can’t compete in normal society. I’m miserable, so I might as well be comfortable.’”
My favorite show! Have seen every episode. Love the last quote and Jerry. 😜
Me too!
The title quote is so timely…and it doesn’t surprise me in the least that he would have no use for McKinsey..
Yes. And yes…
perfect quote. i can’t picture js doing anything any other way, and i would have loved to be a fly on the wall for one of those sessions. i have always loved collaborative brainstorming, takes me back to my advertising days, and now of great use in my kindergarten days.
Me too. Just to watch and listen genius at work.
Oh how I miss that show!
I read those quotes, remember every show/scene they came from..it was genius. I still watch reruns and laugh, as if for the first time. That never happens. The show about nothing, covered just about everything.
Genius. That’s it Van.
No worries.
Point taken.
R.
How I miss that show! Loved them all.
Me too!
Yes, trying to control the creative process is not a way I’d suggest to go. So we experience burnout from time to time, or for a long time. But we’ve given it our all. We still watch our complete boxed set of Seinfeld. What an amazing cast and writing! Unmatched to this day. Even Larry David’s show is lukewarm compared to how Seinfeld sizzled.
So agree. With all points Bela.
I loved the show too! So clever 💛
I’ve never seen a Seinfeld episode…though I think SNL had a skit of “The Soup Nazi” that I might have glanced at, if not…I do remember people at a party taking about the “The Soup” episode,
Yep. Soup Nazi is Seinfeld classic.
Reblogged this on WILDsound Writing and Film Festival Review.