It's a whole series of accidents that makes a show into a hit. A show can be fantastic and still not be a hit. You just have to hit the Zeitgeist at the right moment, and there are so many factors that you're not in control of.
The first two, three, four weeks are wasted. I just show up in front of the computer. Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too. If she doesn't show up invited, eventually she just shows up.
Rebuilding a network is a slow, brick-by-brick process. It's not just creating a hit show - it's building shows to back up that hit show; it's creating an identity of success so that people want their shows on your network.
If I have a song where I hit some really high notes, I want to try to bring in equivalently low notes somewhere in there.
I feel like the great filmmakers who have a true voice, yeah they take the notes, they understand the notes, but it's really about the notes underneath the notes. When you do a test screening and somebody says, 'Well, I didn't like the love story,' but it was probably just too long.
After years of touring, my voice has gotten a lot stronger. I used to just blow out after two or three shows, so I've definitely trained my voice, because I can now hit notes that I couldn't hit before.
I can't hit some of the
real high notes I used to hit, but it makes you have to explore
different avenues.
It's not enough to hit the notes. There is no point in the singers just standing there and sounding wonderful if they're not connecting with the characters they are portraying.
If you're a pitcher, and you're pitching and you strike me out and you start celebrating on the mound and showing me off, whenever I get a hit off you, I'm going to go and celebrate, and you shouldn't get mad. If you're a pitcher and strike me out and show me respect and you don't show me up, when I get a homer or a hit, I'm not going to show you up. That's what I believe.
I will sing whatever I'm given to sing. Growing up, I would sing anything that I was given. If the choir needed a first tenor, I would sing first tenor. If they needed a bass, I would sing bass. Throughout my life, I just figured out ways to hit notes I needed to hit.
If I'm caught off guard or I'm not in a great mood, or if I'm feeling down or if I'm in my head and somebody comes up to me and I can't match the energy, I just have to think, 'Well, I did my job, which was to do the show or release the album or be in the TV show or write the joke. Beyond that, it's kind of a hit or miss what happens between us.'
Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too. If she doesn’t show up invited, eventually she just shows up
It's important to me to be able to hit the notes and just be able to fly when I sing.
You know something is a hit comedically if you can just call up one of your friends and belt out a line from the show and you both start laughing.
I don't feel I was ever a 'famous' child actor. I was just a working actor who happened to be a kid. I was never really in a hit show until I was a teenager with West Wing playing First Daughter Zoey Bartlet. In a way, that was my saving grace - not being a star on a hit show. It kept me working and kept me grounded.
You hit a guitar, you hit a note, you hit a drum, you hit an organ. Meat and potatoes. Simplicity. Not getting too caught up in little tweezers of perfection.