Mike White Quotes

United States, Writer
June 28, 1970

Michael Christopher White is an American writer, actor and producer for television and film and the winner of the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award for Chuck & Buck. He has written the screenplays for films such as School of Rock (2003) and Nacho Libre (2006) and has additionally directed several films that he has written such as Brad's Status (2017). He was the co-creator, executive producer, writer, director and actor on the HBO series Enlightened. White is also known for his appearances on reality television, competing on two seasons of The Amazing Race and later becoming a contestant and runner-up on Survivor.

Also known as Actor, Producer

I feel like I know how to write plot.

Mike White
- Writing
- Knows
- Plot
My impulse is to create an aesthetic that's about a humanistic approach to a world and trying to create compassion for all the characters.

Mike White

Girls' is a huge show, as far as buzz, and magazine covers, and getting a ton of copy, and awards. And yet I don't think the viewership is huge.

Mike White
- Thinking
- Awards
- Huge
As an actor, it's better to just be more loose and give yourself over. That's always fun. It's fun to just let go and be somebody else.

Mike White
- Giving
- Actors
- Letting
I do idiosyncratic dramedies.

Mike White
- Idiosyncratic
My whole life I've been a seeker, searching for something.

Mike White
- Whole
- Seekers
People don't go to see things in the theater for the same reasons that I do. And movies are about mass audiences. And so moviegoers are going for a different kind of drug than for a certain kind of literary quality.

Mike White
- People
- Different
- Quality
A flower doesn't love you or hate you, it just exists.

Mike White
- Hate
- Flower
- Exists

I'm not really a director or producer for hire. There's lots of big gigs out there, but I'm not looking to do that. Usually, when I'm directing or producing, I've written it myself. I'm not really trying to get on some big horse that's running through town. I just make my own stuff.

Mike White
- Running
- Horse
- Directors
People who write books - they live in their own world as they're writing. But people who are doing shows or big movies - not only are you writing this world that you're living in, but you're also simultaneously running a circus, and you can kind of start losing your mind like that.

Mike White
- People
- Running
- Losing
I grew up in a religious family, and we weren't allowed to listen to rock music.

Mike White
- Family
- Rock
- Religious
I guess I'm trying to write stuff that I, as a viewer, would connect to.

Mike White
- Writing
- Connect
- Viewers
As a director or writer, you have to be so controlling.

Mike White
- Director
- Controlling
I actually think it's helped me as a writer to have to act. It's only when you actually start putting yourself out that you appreciate the anxiety that comes with having to try to sell a line, or with trying to own a character.

Mike White