Alan Ball
![Alan Ball](/assets/img/authors/alan-ball.jpg)
Alan Ball
Alan Erwin Ball is an American writer, director, and producer for television, film, and theatre...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Producer
Date of Birth13 May 1957
CityMarietta, GA
CountryUnited States of America
awful child describe guess lose loses parent word
You know what I find interesting? If you lose a spouse, you're called a widow, or a widower. If you're a child and you lose your parents, then you're an orphan. But what's the word to describe a parent who loses a child? I guess that's just too f**king awful to even have a name.
differences leisure tvs
The difference between film and TV is the pace. You don't have the leisure of time in television.
gay age grew
You know, I'm gay and I grew up being aware of that at a very early age, in a fairly repressed family.
watches culture ugh
I am so spoiled. I cannot watch a show where it gets interrupted for ads. I have to TiVo it and skip through the ads, because the culture of advertising is so false and phony that I just... ugh, you know?
stories storytelling process
I really love storytelling, and I love the stories as they reveal themselves. It's an incredibly nourishing process; it's probably the closest I come to having a religion.
distance reality love-is
Life is suffering. We have desires and expectations and egos, and we compare the reality we have, which is miraculous and wondrous, with this reality we desire. That somehow distances us from actually taking part fully with the reality we do have, and that creates suffering. For me, the thing that I love is that it's all about the present moment.
running jobs fun
As a writer, it's fun to create. And once you get into a long-running show with very established characters and a very established tone and format, after a while it's a really great job, but that's what it is - a job.
world environment window
Most of us live in artificial environments and then we go to work in artificial environments and the world becomes something that you see through a window.
couple moving done
There are times when I am directing, and there are a couple of moments I didn't get the way I wanted, but I know I still have other angles to shoot and I have to be done by noon; I move on.
journey numbers bored
I'm not like J.K. Rowling, where I know there's going to be this number of seasons, and I know exactly what's going to happen. I would be so bored if that was the case. There would be no journey. There would be nothing to discover.
growing-up vampire saws
I'd seen 'Interview with A Vampire' and saw Dracula movies growing up, but I never thought, 'I love vampires; I have to do a show about vampires.'
theme fascinated
Obviously death is a theme I'm fascinated by.
looks want mental-health
I'm at the point in my life where I don't want to work as hard. Actually, I've had to take a good hard look at workaholism and it's effect on one's mental health.
buddhist belief
I'm a Buddhist, so one of my biggest beliefs is, 'Everything changes, don't take it personally.'