YouSaid · the spoken record

Sam Esmail

lines on the record: 94
first: 2016-10-24
most recent: 2016-10-24
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I'm very pro-technology. I think I'm pro-human too. So I want us to be catching it. Technology makes things better, but we just have to understand that there are flaws in it, just like in any system, and we just have to make sure that we can exploit those flaws and perfect it and not actually be a slave to it, you know?”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Correct, but then what happens when it takes in the place of actually going to see that person? I mean, Facebook right now, I have friends who have families all across the country. They have grandparents, they have aunts and uncles, and they're having kids. And because they see them in their feed, that's good enough Well, so you're not going to see each other? You're not going to interact. You're not going to go on those family trips together. You're not going to actually be, well, I can see that, you know, I can see them growing up on the feed. That's when it becomes a little scary.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Exactly right. And that's sort of the, I think we try to in a weird way we try and fight against our humanity. I don't see my friends anymore. I don't even call them anymore. I text them. We've devolved our communication. I mean, like, I remember when texting came out and it was so popular, and I was like, wait a minute, we used to call each other on the phone. We could hear each other and we would get so much more information out of that. But no, we'd rather just text because of our own whatever. I don't know what it is. Is it just easier or more efficient or too neurotic to get on the phone? I don't know.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And honestly, you can't avoid saying yes to that question because, well, why wouldn't they? I mean, they would just have much more power, much more processing power. And so it'll come down to that spiritual question. And it's a tough one. Is there something different about us that a machine won't have? Is there that soul that a machine might not, you know, they might have the faster brain, but are we just neurons and electrical impulses or is there something more to us than that? I don't know the answer to that.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, self-driving cars, you know, I know there's a big fear about that, but I got to say, I trust that a little bit more than humans. We haven't been very good about driving cars.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm not a fan. I'm not really a fan. I kind of like Twitter because I can read news. I wish there was a better RSS reader because I think there isn't really a great news reading app right now. Yeah, but I'm kind of disillusioned.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, I don't love any social media app. I mean, I really don't. I mean, I have them all because I create an account on any new shiny object that comes out. But I'm not”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, what's great about it is because there's no pressure to, like, for example, in the Hollywood and the film industry, the pressure is you got to make $100 million across the world. And so your movie has to be so vanilla enough that it's got a hit in China and hit in Indiana and hit in Japan. And with Amazon and with Netflix, and now really all television networks, they just want something really fascinating and interesting that really care about that.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I mean, honestly, the thing that works for Netflix and Amazon Prime is it's quality. I mean, these aren't just shitty shows. These are great shows.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And then an echo, and then I got an echo. And honestly, that's what it is. Entertainment is sort of the Trojan horse to everything else because that's what, you know.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Apple, which, by the way. Right. But Apple, by the way, is kind of creative. So, and Facebook, if these guys decided to go into media, because the one thing I will say that Amazon, and I think Amazon did this really smart. Because I didn't get it. I have Amazon Prime, but I didn't get why Amazon was doing it. And now I get it. You know why? Because now while I'm watching my videos, I'm like, you know, I really need more toothpaste. I've never done that before. And then I just started buying”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I think, like he said, I don't, you know, I wish I knew more on the business side. If these tech companies to see what Netflix has done, if these tech companies like Google, Apple”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Exactly. And again, that for me, that's just not for me. For me, it's like I kind of want to be taken on a ride and then there's a point. There's a whole, you know, there's a whole end to all of this.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, like a friend's or like any sort of family drama actually, modern family. So what you do is you set up this dynamic and it's like life. And it keeps going and going and you're with the characters and it's not really about the story. It's just about these people and what they're going through.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's again, that goes back to that model of let's just keep it going. I mean, there's also the type of TV where it's not about one singular story. So the idea is you're frightened.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I mean, in my head, I planned it to be about four or five seasons. I don't think it's going to go any more than is.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Do you imagine that you will keep doing the show like season after season? What happens? Because it's changed. Seasons have changed. There's just like discrete works and then it ends kind of thing. What do you imagine this going, Mr. Well?”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“There you go. And then by the end of the episode, they solved the case or they don't solve the case or whatever it is, there's the solution. And then rinse repeat, we do that next week. Now, I'm not putting a judgment on it. Personally, it's not my thing. Obviously, they have their audience and it works. But for me. A film you don't do that with a film, right? There's one story, there's a singular story, you're sticking to that singular vision the entire time. And if you can do that long form across multiple episodes, multiple seasons, for me, I think there's something a lot more fascinating, a lot more interesting about that.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, there's a formula to the show. There's a pattern to the show, right? So there's whatever, the murder at the opening, the cold open, and then you got your two characters, they come in.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I like it because it is more film. I mean, one of the things. Film like because one of the things that I don't love about TV, and I wasn't a huge TV watcher growing up.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right. Well, look, the thing about weekly releases, like what we're doing, I love the community aspect of it. I remember when I used to watch Lost, and Lost, you know, was a show that And this is what I think true interactive entertainment is. I watch an episode of Lost After Lost I'm actually watching it with a few friends. We're arguing two hours after the episode aired about what everything meant. Then I'm going online going on a message board and interacting with other people there about their theories and my theories. And then I see an Easter egg. Someone found an Easter egg about loss and then that takes me to a book and you just fall down this rabbit hole and it's fun and it's crazy and it's awesome. If you dump it all everybody sort of out of sync like you said you don't really quite have that community experience. So there are advantages either way.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But you don't do that. You know, I love the other day I was here arguing against that we're going to go back to the thing. I'm like, you can't decide this on the behalf of... Because they were talking about the idea that there's just, I think it was James Corden that there's one like nobody can talk about the game of thrones because everyone's at a different point in watching it in their watching cycle. Now that does come out every week, but some people save them and stuff like that. So there's no commonality.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The idea is that you're connecting all of these things into one experience, into one story, one storytelling universe, if you want to call it that. And I'm not just talking about sequels and prequels and whatever. I'm talking about legitimately saying, no, you will deepen your experience of the characters of the world by going into these other places.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But it's not. It's weird. It's the marketing. They look at all that other stuff as marketing. We'll do like a little VR thing and it'll just be like, you can walk around Mars and that'll be that will get them to watch the Martian or whatever. I think that's where it needs to evolve where they're like, wait a minute, this isn't just marketing. This is just new form. This is what we're doing. And it all has to make sense. And it all start starts from the beginning and starts from the creator or the writer or director, whoever the minute it starts just kind of being pushed away and it's like, no, we still got to like service.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Beginning to end Is the entertainment industry intelligent enough to embrace this in that way? I mean, they do it in pieces, but it seems so grudging. After all, I keep saying I come down here and they're like, well, television is bigger than ever. I go, nobody's watching television. It's like they're watching things on screens. You know what I mean? Or they don't.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Which is also another story that's kind of like in between a couple episodes. So that's when you set out to tell a story, you are not telling just one linear story from beginning to end as a TV show or a movie. You are now embracing all the different avenues people can consume storytelling.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I don't know if they do, and this is the worrisome part. For example, we're doing, you know, like I just advertised a few minutes ago, we're doing a book, but the book is not a marketing opportunity for the show. The book is its own standalone thing, and it's an interactive thing. It's not just a book that you read, but there's layers to it a little bit like that JJ Abram's book, S. So that's a thing. And then we've got a mobile game that we released, which is awesome. And that is a story. So it's not just a game that you play. And again, just another marketing fodder for the show. It's its own story. And all these little pieces you can sort of embrace. And that's sort of the universe building. That's the world building of the future. That's why if Google becomes a studio or Facebook becomes a studio, oh, we also did a VR film.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Franchises, right? So it's not. To me, it's still an antiquated way of thinking because, you know, when you watch all movies, I think I watched Mr. Robot on my phone the whole How do you, as a creator, how do you think about that? Are there other creators like you? You're obviously illuminated about technology, but they understand what's happening. When Google becomes the studio, when Facebook becomes critically important to distribution of entertainment,”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Even the way films are made right now, they're talked about as universes, franchises, right? So it's not, you know, it's not just about one movie anymore. It's about how many movies can you make off that one movie and how many toys can you make and how many video games.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And that it's the fear that's going to kill them, not the technology. I mean, look at Netflix. They've pounced on that. They've taken that as an opportunity to say, well, if no one else wants to embrace the technology, if no one else wants to say, hey, no, this isn't something to be scared of, but an opportunity to expand and to offer entertainment in a way that wasn't offered before, then we'll do it. And they're doing it really well. And I think that's the thing. It's not about, because I mean,”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Sneakers? Although, I guess I don't know. But that's a great movie. It is a great movie. Yeah, yeah. But one of the things that's important to me is that technology is also a situation that's ruining their business, like really ruining their, really the moment that Rubicon has been crossed, people are streaming on phones. Google and Amazon and Netflix are sort of disrupting their business incredibly. So there's a real fear of the technology too.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, well, sneakers, sneakers. Although, I guess I don't know. But that's a great movie. It is a great movie. Yeah, yeah.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right. But go ahead. Yeah. So, I mean, so to me, like, I feel like obviously as a sort of younger writer directors come up and they kind of understand it and they want to represent it more authentically, hopefully that mindset will change in Hollywood because I think in terms of just the old fashioned thing that we've talked about the Donald Trump, those just rules don't apply anymore. There aren't 400 pound guys who are just like, you know, devilishly sitting behind a keyboard wanting to change the traffic lights. You know, I think.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I get worried sometimes because I don't want them to go down that road of like, we'll just gloss over. Because again, hacking is a lot more psychological than that. And if they could get over their kind of hump of it's... Two obtuse audiences won't understand it unless we do this weird graphical thing.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, it's just not. It's never going to be interesting. And that's why we have to force all this other stuff. I mean, I haven't seen Snowden, but I saw the trailer.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't know Hollywood, I think they don't understand it and they don't think that there's any drama in it. I mean, because I remember being told a lot, well, it's not going to be exciting watching people on keyboard. Right, yeah.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And that was one of the first questions he asked me. And I was like, well, if I answer it now, he's got to be my guy. So I answered it. I was like, now that I've answered, you are my Mr. Robot because you can't be walking around knowing the big secret.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, so we were kind of doing the whole auditioning process for the Mr. Robot. And my casting directors, Susie Ferris, who's amazing, she kept giving me lists of names. And there were these, you know, there were the kind of the people with the bigger names and the people not so big names. And, you know, and Christian was always on the list of the people with the big names. And I was like, you know, and I saw Christian's name and it kept coming up. And I was like, oh, this guy, wait a minute. He's perfect. And I got so then I was like, let's sit down with them. Let's talk to him. And I talked to him, and this is how I knew one of the first questions he asked. And this is, he just read the pilot. He didn't know anything else about the show. He knew the secret. Of mister Robot right away”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was kind of a hacker. He was hacking the radio waves. And that spirit, that revel, you know, I always tell him, like, because I didn't write this with him in mind, but subconsciously I must have because that character in pump up the volume and that character in Heathers is the Mr. Robot character. I mean, whether I want to admit it or not, it's like subconsciously it was there. It's that.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, pump up the volume. I mean, Heather's I Love, True Romance. I mean, you know, but pump up the volume. He was a hacker”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“None of them really playing a love interest. Which is kind of, I didn't think about it at the time, but it's kind of unusual for a female protagonist to not have that.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, you know, look, I got really lucky. I talked to a lot of showrunners because I'd never done TV before. So I got a lot of advice. And, you know, from the stories I hear, you know, it's tough doing a show. You're working with these actors for years to have the right chemistry and to have everyone come in with a good attitude every season, year in, year out. And I've only done two seasons. But I got to say, my cast is incredible. Porsche Doubleday, Carly Chaken, Stephanie Cranielson. I mean, and now Grace Gummer, you know, came on in the second season. Just brilliant, brilliant actresses and all doing very different things.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And he just not only does he hit it, he's not trying. It's effortless. And when I saw that, I was like, well, wait a minute. Now, not only can he do this, but I can add things layers and complexities to it and push him in moral boundaries. And he's going to be able to pull it off because he's got that center.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And has mental illness and is a drug addict. There are all these things to not like about this person and not want to spend time with this person more than anything. And it really takes a really precise Take on that to add that warmth, to add that, wait a minute, he's in a lot. This is all happening because he's in a lot of pain. And there's a forgiveness that you can have as an audience member when someone kind of performs it like that. But that is such a fine target to hit.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, he added the warmth, the thing that I kept fearing about the whole, like, you know, look, a guy who's going to rant and rave about society and how it needs to change. easily and who has mental”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I would imagine so. I mean, what a, yeah, anyway. So Rami. So here's the thing we audition potentially, I would say over 100 guys And I thought we were in real trouble. I actually was contemplating just not doing the show because we weren't finding the right guy and what was the point of sort of comment. And by the way, these actors were the guys that were coming in were great. I mean, really good actors. They came in. They had an interesting take, but none of it felt right. And I thought we were kind of done. And then Rami came in and he totally transformed the character. How so?”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, so remember that I initially thought of it as a feature. So when I was sitting down to write it as a feature, I did have an end goal in mind. And honestly, the movie, I always say the movie or the show at this point, it's not about hacking, it's about hackers. So at the end of the day, this is going to be about Elliot's emotional journey. And so we started him at a certain place and the ending will be about that kind of character art, where Elliot's going to kind of grow and change. So that's sort of the end goal without spoiling.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, it's interesting because the whole great thing about the hacker mentality, the whole. Something that I don't think movies completely understood, it's finding the flaw. And whether that's the flaw in person. Finding embarrassing emails, or that's the flaw in the system which is designed by a person. And that's the whole great thing. All this stuff that has our planes running and traffic lights going was designed by a human who by very, you know, by their very nature can make mistakes. And that's what hackers are trying to exploit.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, I think one of the things is there's one thing of exposing people's emails, or what Julian Assange is doing at WikiLeaks. That's one thing. That's just embarrassing people, essentially. Their own language. The other part is systems, the idea of ruining systems, either infrastructure or banking or anything that has real implications. And I think that's where you're delving, actually.”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That was what we got out of that, right? That's true. Nasty petty people. Right. What's weird is that the hacks isn't about them taking down the system, right? Like literally shutting. It's exposing human flaws. Although, you know,”
2016-10-24 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT