At the end of the day, if you don't identify with the main characters, no television show will work.

If artists do have ideas, they're often not great.

I'm a fan of the mythos of Atlanta hip-hop, and it's something I grew up imagining. It was very interesting to get there and see the real version of this world and then reconcile the differences between what's presented as Atlanta hip-hop to the rest of the world and what the real, breathing version of it is.

Obviously the actors are incredible at being the audience surrogates in this crazy universe.

TV is generally an unfriendly environment for directors because you're expected to come in and tell a story in the voice of the show that already exists, and just fill in the blanks and then submit it back.

I love museums, but I always thought there was something funny about a group of strangers silently staring at works of inanimate objects together. Each person is having a very personal and maybe even emotional experience, but it's in the confines of an extremely quiet and sterile room.

A lot of the music video stuff I've worked on is mostly me pitching ideas, and then if [the artists] have notes or thoughts, I'll integrate them into the idea.

I like the idea of reading into people's faces when they're not emoting. Some people are fascinated, some are sympathizing.

People have a natural tendency to read emotions out of faces, so when you see a face that is hyperreal but without the life behind the eyes, it's really off-putting and intriguing.

Even my nighttime dreams are very, very rooted in reality. They just start to become surreal, little by little.

I like the feeling of keeping people off-balance and having the audience not knowing where I'm coming from or keeping that mysterious.

Too many things are possible in a dream. It's most interesting when you don't know which space you're in.