Spoiler Warning: for those people who have not yet seen season one of 'Mr Robot', Sam Esmail discusses an important issue after 12:40 minutes. Watch season one first. Then, come back and watch this excellent interview.

*NOTES* Sam Esmail Interview 14:20 Plot is the forgettable part, don't focus on plot. You can focus on the characters more in TV than with movies. *The dynamic of characters, relationship of characters, how characters make choices based on how they feel.* 15:10 The bonnet draft. You just try and get things down. You just let yourself go. Don't look at the page count. Zero subtext. The scariest thing is the blank page. Don't judge yourself. Tarintino says the script is a standalone piece of work and the movie is a separate entity. Esmail says the movie is the singular thing. 21:20 TV used to be documenting the story. You get your wide, medium close up, close up, add a camera dolly. Done. Now you have to add intentionality to it. Making actual filmmaking choices. A. What perspective are we telling the story from? If the character is paranoid, we should film it claustrophibically, or shaky, etc. That's the filmmaking part. 22:00 In movies you write, then you shoot, then you edit, then you release. In TV you are supposed to do it all at the same time; writing ep 3 while you're filming episode 2 while you're editing ep 1. 23:00 If you are thinking about going into TV. If you do sell a pilot, the studio is watching the way you conduct yourself during the pilot. They are making a lot of decisions while the pilot is made. They are deciding if you'll be a good show runner, if you are making intentional directing choices with the cinematography, locations, costumes, or if you just fly by the seat of your pants. You need to have the vision. 24:00 The writers room is where you do want help. All the writers will challenge you, help you focus, come up with better ideas. As the show runner, you decide the direction of the writing. So you want to have the big story beats in mind, then directing the writers who will come up with the individual beats. Always focus the writing towards the underlying goal of what the story is about, who the characters are; their goals, obstacles, the brand/ethos of the story, and frame your writing direction around that sandbox. 27:30 If you direct every episode. That's 83 days of 12 hour days (plus over time). That can kill you. Staying ahead of the audience: That's classic storytelling techniques to tell a story in the most engaging and suspenseful way depending on what that scene or episode is supposed to do. You can use: A. Foreshadowing B. Telegraphing C. Misdirection D. Red Herrings 37:00 Do you see yourself going back to movies or staying in TV? When you write, the idea sort of presents itself on what it'll be; if it's just a standalone story or a show or mini series. If the first act is at the 9 hour mark, it may be telling you that it should be a show. 38:00 In movies, they have to make it work in America and China for them to know it'll be a good investment. From their perspective, what if they blow a hundred million on a creative movie that bombs. They will lose their jobs, they won't get hired by another studio. Think from their perspective In TV, they are spending money like crazy. TV is the new cinema. Netflix is buying everything. It boils down to watch time. Netflix wants you to spend as much time on their site every month so that you are eager to hand over the 16 bucks a month it costs. They want retention, watch time, and are happy with niching down and "specializing" to make something tailored to a specific audience in TV, but with movies, it has to tick bigger, wider boxes for larger audiences. 41:28 Why USA instead of premium cable-HBO. Premium cable wanted to put the script into development. A. Development sucks. i. 2% of scripts in development will get made. ii. When they do get made, it might be 10 years later iii. You'll get a nice check; it might look good on your resume, but it probably won't get made B. USA wanted to make it, no budget limitations, no relying on A list actors. 44:00 The promotional marketing is so important. It needs to be it's own standalone creative art. You need to be intentional about how you advertise it. Don't just release a generic trailer, make a VR short film instead that fits with the tone of the show. 46:00 Should you be stubborn about direction ideas A. Be stubborn about what feels right/wrong. When you say, it doesn't feel right, but maybe it could if we did X, Y, Z and option 1, 2, 4. That's a bad road to go down because you're compromising the *WHY* behind why you started or are doing something in the first place. B. When stubborn is bad, is when someone pitches an idea that's not yours, but you want your idea, that's bad stubborn.

Mr interviewer works so good, he asks excellent questions. Like wow. If you're reading this, just know that you (and your hairstyle) are cool

He's a genius.

the questions asked were great!

This interviewer sounds so much like David Fincher it's kinda freaking me out. I mean there's definitely a stronger, open energy to the way he speaks, but you listen to Fincher doing press or whatever, the baseline of the voice is totally there with this guy.

Great interview!

Great interview! Great insight! Thanks - Cool channel.

watching Mr Robot I felt an agressive ambition to hack TV shit and improve it... like the episode in the snowy woods at night looking for half a dead man... that was some Soprano stuff improved... it was actually (yes) better than the original.

This interviewer is boss.

"...and you got Spike Jones..." ! :-D

He's Egyptian by the way. Egyptian and proud

Subtitles at around 0.30 - 0.31 seconds show: ' some s mail', which should be Sam Esmail.

Why is not possible to see subs..? It would be useful

14:31 - 14:40 I totally feel ya! In real life, I'm drawn towards dynamic of my friends! Soooo cute! Haha!

I humbly disagree as to why Sam theorizes season 2 got a mixed reaction. He said something along the lines of people wanting more of an episode structure. That had nothing to do with it and for the record season 2 is probably my favorite season, but on a first watch I didn't like it as much as season 1 (particularly the first half to 2/3rds of the season). The reason being is because we're spending less time with Elliot and the time we do spend with elliot is confusing and doesn't seem to make much sense. Why is he hanging out with Leon everyday, watching basketball, with this Ray guy chatting him up? He's not doing anything productive towards any cause or that of any interest to the viewers. So we are lacking our central protagonist for more than half of the season. On rewatches I find the Elliot storyline enjoyable, knowing the prison loop twist, but on a first watch much of our time spent with our central protagonist is the least enjoyable. Season 2 is definitely the most character centric season.... we spend time with a wide array of characters... Darlene, Angela (probably too much time with Angela), Price, Dom, a little bit of Joana, Mobley, etc. Once again, the mixed reactions have nothing to do with it being episode centric. I really hope the networks or whoever don't get that goofy thinking in their heads, because it had everything to do with what I said above (we're essentially without our Elliot protagonist for a good portion of the season). I personally detest when shows have an episode centric vibe as opposed to it being a long continuation. As it is... all of my favorite shows including Mr. Robot, have all the episodes combined together with the credits edited out, so it's usually tricky for me to break down a show on a per episode basis as I watch the seasons as a whole. Too much of an episde centric vibe comes off a bit corny to me. which this show never gave me that impression.

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