The notion that the staging of the play Harry Potter should be raw magic and street theater rather than high-tech theater, was essential. Colin Callender More Quotes by Colin Callender More Quotes From Colin Callender You never know, until you put a play up for an audience, whether it's going to work. Things you think will work don't, and things you're not sure about work really well. Colin Callender going-to-work not-sure thinking I live in New York, so I'm used to the audiences that cheer and clap through a play. It is unusual for London audiences. Colin Callender unusual audience cheer If the play works in an emotional and engaging way purely from what's on the page, then what's on the stage will be the icing on the cake. If the play didn't work as a play on its own terms, none of the magic, none of the special effects or theatricality of it all, would add up to anything. Colin Callender magic emotional special The theater is a communal experience, and whatever the emotional connection between an audience member and the actors onstage, it ripples through the whole audience. Part of the fun of the play is being a part of that audience. Colin Callender ripple emotional fun Each audience seems to have a life of its own, which is why watching the show regularly is so exciting, because it's always a different experience. Colin Callender audience different exciting The play has to work for the super fans, and not speak down to them, and yet it had to play to those people who maybe had never read a Harry Potter book or seen the films. Colin Callender film book people I think where Playground is heading is deeper into that marriage between stage, film and television, with the increasing number of people in the film business working in television, obviously something that we were very influential in starting and doing at HBO. And I think that that's the focus of where I see the company moving forward, continuing to explore that intersection of all that talent. Colin Callender numbers moving thinking My principal focus is finding great dramas. Colin Callender findings focus drama I think that the marketplace has changed in many dramatic ways but actually in some sense it's remained the same because the challenge of creating quality programming is the same, and I've always thought that if you follow the great material everything else will fall in to place. Colin Callender creating fall thinking I think that's so particularly exciting about this moment in time is all the new platforms that are now existing, the Netflixes and the Hulus and Amazons and so and so forth; I mean they are really doing what pay TV was doing twenty years ago. So a show like Dancing On The Edge gets to have a digital life after it's playing on Starz. I think what's exciting is how these new platforms are providing more opportunities both for first-run programming on the one hand but also for second plays for shows that have appeared first either on traditional broadcast or on cable. Colin Callender opportunity running mean New York is obviously the capital of theater. Colin Callender theater new-york The White Queen in many ways it is representative of the sort of drama that I'm talking about. The books by Philippa Gregory were best sellers and they specifically told the story of history from the point of view of women. Colin Callender queens drama book I've had a long association with the theater over the years but I had never produced a play and it was something that I'd always wanted to do.The movies moved away from dramas, and I think that I'm very excited by the opportunity to take smart writing that takes risks and see it on stage. It's exciting to see that engagement between the audience and the playwright. Colin Callender smart writing drama I think people want the intimacy in the engagement of sitting in a theater with people and seeing something happen live and engage in that. I think that could be a very powerful experience. Colin Callender powerful people thinking My career has sort of been characterized by taking advantage of the changes in the marketplace, sometimes by design, sometimes by accident. Colin Callender design careers sometimes In this new digital landscape, this sort of international marketplace, it's come full circle, and I wanted to take advantage of my talent relations on both sides of the Atlantic. Colin Callender digital circles sides When I started producing it was right at the beginning Channel 4 in England. Nicholas Nickelby which was my first credit as a producer was Contract 001 at Channel 4 - that was the start of independent production in England and the emergence of an independent sector. Colin Callender credit independent firsts At heart, I'm really interested in this marriage of theater, film and television and I think what happened in the UK and obviously is happening here is that there's a convergence of talent kind of moving between the different disciplines and I find that very exciting. Colin Callender heart moving thinking I find it very invigorating having Ken Lonergan, who's an established, Pulitzer-nominated playwright doing Howards End, or Chris Hampton who's won an Oscar writing a TV series, or having an actor like Mark Rylance, who is probably England's leading theater actor, in the lead in Wolf Hall. Colin Callender oscars tvs writing One of the things that's different about London and the English market is that theater and film and television are all based in London. It's not quite the same as in the States where if the playwright here wants a successful TV or film career, they're whisked away by Hollywood. Colin Callender careers successful want
