Jenji Kohan famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

I'm always looking for those places where you can slam really disparate people up against one another, and they have to deal with each other. There are very few crossroads anymore. We talk about this country as this big melting pot, but it's a mosaic. There's all these pieces, they're next to each other, they're not necessarily mixing. And I'm looking for those spaces where people actually do mix.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Country #Badass #Space
There's more to us than the moment we made a bad decision.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Decision #Moments #Bad Decision
If you go to a network and say, "I wanna do prison stories about black women and Latino women and old women," you're not gonna make a sale. But, if you've got this blonde girl going to prison, you can get in there, and then you can tell all the stories. I just thought it was a terrific gateway drug into all the things I wanted to get into.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Girl #Drug #Black
First of all, I find everything funny, which is upsetting to my children sometimes, and to people in my life, in general.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Children #People #Upset
I think shows that are completely dramatic are a lie. People use humor to cope. That is how we deal with things. In the darkest situations, there's humor. And if you don't show that, you're not being true to real life.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Lying #Real #Thinking
But, I like the challenge of, "How can we stretch this out? Where can we go with it?" It's an open road, especially at Netflix. You can take it anywhere you want.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Challenges #Netflix #Want
You want everyone to be a full character. No one is just evil, or very few people are, hopefully. They're characters, so you want to flush them out. You've got to show all sides of them. There is definitely an antagonistic relationship between guards and prisoners, and I do think it flares up.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Character #Thinking #Flare Up
Even during the casting process, the pools of talent are so deep when you have a call for Latin women or black women or a middle-aged woman because they never get their shot. There's so much talent there.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Latin #Black #Casting
To be able to be there first, I love the pioneer thing. It's exciting to me. And they pay full rate, they're really nice, they support the work, and they said yes. What could be bad? It's the Wild West. You can do what you want.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Nice #Support #Pioneers
I think my immediate reaction was, "I'm so tired. I need a little more time." But, it was very quickly followed up by excitement. It's very flattering, and it's a wonderful vote of confidence. We dream of getting to do what we do.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Dream #Tired #Thinking
It was enormously challenging because you want that all-American girl, but you also want the cool WASP, privileged white girl. Usually, women in that package aren't funny.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Girl #White #Challenges
On the other hand, we worked a year on this and some people are going to watch it in a night and go, "We want more!" And there is something I miss about the longing and the anticipation for the next episode.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Night #Hands #Years
Also, this is our lives for a huge part of the year and we did not want to be in prison, 24/7. It was too oppressive. So, we were like, "How can we get out? Let's see their lives, a little bit." That was really fun.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Fun #Years #Want
We fell in love with different people. Looking back, we might have done it in a different order, but we got invested. We really wanted to do the flashbacks because we wanted to explore who these women were on the outside versus the inside, and get a fuller picture of the masks we wear.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Order #People #Different
I'm always looking for a nexus, where you can put all these diverse people together, see how they respond to one another, see what they learn about each other, and what they like and don't like.
-- Jenji Kohan

#People #Together #Nexus
We watched these auditions and could only pick one. Sometimes we would add new characters 'cause we wanted to use another actress. There were so many people who were just waiting for something like this.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Character #People #Waiting
I don't set out to write female lead shows, necessarily. I like deeply flawed characters. When they come to me, or when I'm introduced to them, I follow the stories and the people, rather than setting out to do a female lead thing.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Writing #Character #People
The oppression of it, the sense of helplessness, and really being part of a system and a bureaucracy that is arbitrary. I never thought of the depth of losing your freedom and what that meant. And I was surprised and delighted by ways people maintain their humanity and try to survive.
-- Jenji Kohan

#People #Humanity #Trying
I think a good story, well told is a good story, well told, whether you're watching the episodes all in a row or not. However, it might be fun to take a closer look at how the previous episode ends and how that end relates to the beginning of the next episode.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Fun #Thinking #Looks
But, how many times can you get exactly what you want, when you want it? Not very often. So, why not have it with entertainment? That's what it's fun. It's fun! I find that's how I'm watching, more and more. My kids go on binges, and I get sucked in. And then, it's the middle of the night and they're late for school, the next day.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Fun #School #Kids
We did tons of research. We went to visit a prison. We had speakers. We have read tons of supplementary material, books and articles. We are constantly emailing articles around the writers' room. We have dipped ourselves in prison culture and lore and media, and the experience and the people. We really want to be as informed as possible.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Book #Media #People
I think it would be exhausting and depressing, to write, to watch and to live, if it was just focused on drama. It's heavy. Also, I think the humor really highlights the pathos and the struggle. You can slam it up against drama, and it makes both shine.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Depressing #Drama #Struggle
But if I had my way, there would be so much more, in everything. It's so vital and integral in life, and it should be reflected in what we're watching, if we're reflecting our experiences. And it's hot. I love the sex stuff, and I want more.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Sex #Way #Hot
I begged her to write a song and she said yes. I am a huge Regina Spektor fan. I think she's a genius and just a lovely soul, and I wanted her voice on it. And she agreed, which is just the coolest thing, ever. She knocked it out of the park.
-- Jenji Kohan

#Song #Writing #Thinking

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