Quotes from Dick Wolf

If the scripts are not good, I'll tell somebody, 'This isn't good.'

Everybody knows things are not the same. The people running the TV end of a major vertically integrated company know how much money a successful show can make.

The most positive step is to try to expand the employment base by making it, if not economically friendly, at least not economically disastrous, for studios to take on deficits.

The environment doesn't change that radically. You are still going to go home at night and NBC is going to be there, ABC and CBS will still be there.

The heart and soul of network programming is series programming, the weekly repetition of characters you like having in your house.

I was raised not to be rude, but I also try to get the best work out of people.

I do love television. But the business is accelerating and people are not getting the chance to fail.

When it went on the air, the sales department hated it. It was the highest advertising pullout show in the history of NBC. At the early focus groups, people were saying, 'Who are these people? Why should we watch them?

It's show business. No show, no business.

The most positive step is to try to expand the employment base by making it, if not economically friendly, at least not economically disastrous, for studios to take on deficits.

If you're going to vote on a television contract, there is a certain rationality to saying that the same structures that are applied to Health Plan participation should be placed on the right to vote on a strike.

It was like in Samoa when they'd put up a movie screen on the beach and show movies and the locals would run behind the sheet to see where the people went. It was pretty grim.

People recognize certain things, like 'D' means 'this dialogue stinks.' We're dealing with shows that are written here, shot in New York and posted back here. Accurate communication is a necessity.

The environment doesn't change that radically. You are still going to go home at night and NBC is going to be there, ABC and CBS will still be there.

I try to just communicate what I want done as clearly and simply as possible.

These men represent the blend of state-of-the-art technology and shrewd old-school intelligence that makes our city as safe as anyplace on the planet.

This was a war waged by damaged individuals, making victims of the innocent. Trying to be the catcher in the rye, as Fisk had, was insanity. Then again, despite the Sisyphean aspect of the job, somebody had to do it. Or at least try.

Traffic heading south through Manhattan was horrible, even with NYPD motorcycle escorts. The gridlock was such that there was nowhere for them to go. Nothing to do but wait for the clots to work themselves through.

The ad revenues still go up because nothing dependably delivers the eyeballs that successful series do.

There was an interesting article in Los Angeles Magazine about women directors. A woman director makes one bad independent film and her career is over. Guys tend to get an opportunity to learn from their mistakes.

The threat to free television. The reason television is free is because it is a life support system for commercials. That fundamental aspect is about to change.

When it went on the air, the sales department hated it. It was the highest advertising pullout show in the history of NBC. At the early focus groups, people were saying, 'Who are these people? Why should we watch them?

Drama or comedy programming is still the surest way for advertisers to reach a mass audience. Once that changes, all bets are off.

I think most people don't react well to being screamed at. It's counterproductive.