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Life is suffering. We have desires and expectations and egos, and we compare the reality we have, which is miraculous and wondrous, with this reality we desire. That somehow distances us from actually taking part fully with the reality we do have, and that creates suffering. For me, the thing that I love is that it's all about the present moment.

Alan Ball

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Alan Ball
Age: 67
Born: 1957
Born: May 13
Director
Executive Producer
Film Director
Film Producer
Playwright
Screenwriter
Showrunner
Television Producer
Writer
Atlanta
Georgia
Alan Erwin Ball
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More quotes by Alan Ball

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It's a lot harder to find fault with the mundane details of daily existence when you really, really know on a cellular level that you're going to go, and that this moment, right now, is life. Life isn't what happens to you in 20 years. This moment, right now, is your life.
Alan Ball
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Well, here's the thing with relationships on 'True Blood': Once they happen then you have to throw a monkey-wrench into them, because to have people be happy is not that exciting.
Alan Ball
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There are times when I am directing, and there are a couple of moments I didn't get the way I wanted, but I know I still have other angles to shoot and I have to be done by noon I move on.
Alan Ball
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It's a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself. Makes you wonder what else you can do that you've forgotten about.
Alan Ball
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I think it's very difficult, and it requires a tremendous amount of spiritual integrity and discipline, to not be a narcissist in a culture that encourages it every step of the way.
Alan Ball
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I really love storytelling, and I love the stories as they reveal themselves. It's an incredibly nourishing process it's probably the closest I come to having a religion.
Alan Ball
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We live in a patriarchal culture. It's okay for women to be objectified but not for men.
Alan Ball
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I'm a Buddhist, so one of my biggest beliefs is, 'Everything changes, don't take it personally.'
Alan Ball
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If a scene is longer than three pages, it better be for a good reason.
Alan Ball
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I'd seen 'Interview with A Vampire' and saw Dracula movies growing up, but I never thought, 'I love vampires I have to do a show about vampires.'
Alan Ball
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A lot of times, the choice of the right song will save a scene. Or there will be a scene that's a little flat and you put in the right song and somehow it just comes alive.
Alan Ball
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The idea of celibate vampires is ridiculous. To me, vampires are sex. I don't get a vampire story about abstinence. I don't care about high school students. I find them irritating and uninformed.
Alan Ball
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As a writer, it's fun to create. And once you get into a long-running show with very established characters and a very established tone and format, after a while it's a really great job, but that's what it is - a job.
Alan Ball
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The fact that we die, that makes life important. It's hard to take, but it's the truth.
Alan Ball
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I'm used to American actors who have a movie career thinking television acting is beneath them.
Alan Ball
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I know a lot of shows are like, 'Here's the pages,' right before they start filming. I'd have a heart attack. The anxiety would be way too much for me. I don't have as strong a backbone as those other show writers.
Alan Ball
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I'm a huge freak, and always have been. I spent the first part of my life trying really desperately not to be one, and it was just a waste of time.
Alan Ball
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I'm not a believer in luck, but I do believe you need it.
Alan Ball
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And as I stumbled onto Eastern philosophy and Buddhism, it was the first time I had ever read any sort of philosophy that really made a tremendous amount of sense. What I liked that was missing from my experience of Christianity growing up was a sort of acceptance, a sort of being OK with being imperfect and not focusing on the sin.
Alan Ball
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Obviously death is a theme I'm fascinated by.
Alan Ball