Quotes from Julie Plec

I think, make it as beautiful as you can, and then rip it away. That's my sadistic thought as a storyteller.

It took me some time to realize television, for someone like me, was the perfect medium. I like to produce, I like to be detail-orientated, I like to be in charge of a lot of things, and I like to be a storyteller. It's kind of the perfect gig for someone like me.

Don't do another show just because someone thinks that there's a dollar to be earned there. Do it because you love the characters, and you love the world, and you really, truly feel both the fans and you as a storyteller can benefit from having the second show.

A long-running show leaves behind a legacy of storytellers and their relationship with the audience.

I grew up as an avid reader. I would go to the library and check out 40 books a week. Some of them were smarty books; most of them were 'Sweet Valley High' and young teen romance.

There's a reason a happy ending is called an ending. The trick of a television storyteller is to find all the rivers and mountains and valleys on the way to that ending.

Fans are always talking about endgame as though endgame has been chosen from minute 1. I don't know that you could talk to a single series creator that would say confidently 'Where I started is where I finished, and there was no way in hell I was going to stray from that path.' 'Dawson's' being the perfect example.

I think the model of The CW Network is really built on the fan platform more than anything else. The success or longevity of a series has less to do with the number it's pulling and more to do with the social footprint... There is a lot about the fan support on a strictly business level that's really powerful for that network.

I do all these panels where people are always talking about the lack of female directors, and I have a lot of opinions on that.

We all have our own party fantasy that we've either lived or wanted to live in New Orleans.

'The Vampire Diaries' is a serialized drama. It deserved its final chapter.

Because I was such a student of pop culture growing up, I love that on the list of things that I got to work on in my first years out of college were 'Scream' and 'Dawson's Creek' and, ultimately now, 'The Vampire Diaries,' which generations below me grew up on and can quote. I love that. I think that is the coolest thing in the world.

I wanted people to talk about the finale of 'The Vampire Diaries' as one of their favorites, which is a lofty ambition, but it certainly drove me hard creatively to make sure that we had put as much thought and love into it as we possibly could.

It was a high-class problem burden, but it was still a burden on 'The Vampire Diaries,' in which we had this group of characters that we loved writing for so much and who had so much available story to tell.

'Originals' is a show that is not about struggling as a vampire but reveling in it. It's about embracing vampirism.

The intensity of the story breaking on 'Vampire' has never been easy. Every week, you're starting with a blank board and trying to make a new movie. There's no formula; there's no franchise to hang your hat on.

The vampire is the new James Dean.

I would never say no to continuing to explore the - somebody coined the phrase for me the other day, which I love - 'TVDU,' 'The 'Vampire Diaries' Universe.' I have no desire to exploit it, but I also know that there are plenty of opportunities for stories left to be told.

The people I worked for before I was doing 'Vampire Diaries' were very generous to me.

I feel like Caroline Forbes is such a crucial element... on 'The Vampire Diaries.'

Kevin Williamson and I wrote a show about loss and grief that just so happened to have vampires in it.

As a fan, I hated most of 'The Day After Tomorrow' movie except for the part where Emmy Rossum and Jake Gyllenhaal were stuck in the library, and I thought, 'Oh, I like this now.' There's something about bringing people together in odd circumstances and exploring the petri dish of what happens.

I've always been a super-fan of television storytelling. It took me a while to figure that out in a career capacity, but certainly in a life capacity, I've been an avid viewer of television for decades.

I don't like villains who are just villains. People who are just there to be bad - ugh - so annoying.