I follow a simple formula when I compose. I ask myself, 'What would the audience want to hear?' and 'Why would they buy my CDs?' And the process of answering these questions through music follows. Sometimes, it works. Sometimes, it backfires.
In the past, the West had tried to export one formula of democracy which should fit to the rest of the world, and they discovered that this doesn't work.
I am most attracted to characters and stories that I can relate to. The traditional formula of 'larger than life' I never found attractive.
Michael Lewis has the amazing ability to take complex formulas and concepts and turn them into page-turners.
I know all my different formulas to get certain sounds. I've been doing this so long that I don't experiment anymore. Or let me rephrase: I've been doing this so long that I don't have to experiment as much. You always want to evolve and change, but if I go in and I know it's a certain type of song, I know exactly where I'm going to place the mics.
At 'OITNB,' we really work to keep to the formula that's made this show so popular with everyone who watches it, which is to have really good characters and really interesting stories.
I mentioned that one of the tripartite formulas in American worldview involves time: past, present, and future.
Age, style, where you come from, where you were born, it's different every time, which, to me, is refreshing because it says that there isn't any one thing, one formula or kind of character that makes a great comedian. Everybody has had a different approach.
It's always been my formula to get the next picture set up before anyone's seen the last one.
I'm a huge believer in story being this invisible scaffolding that no one ever recognizes or realizes is actually making the audience engaged in what's going on. There is no formula for it.
