Nic Pizzolatto
Nic Pizzolatto
Nicholas Austin "Nic" Pizzolattois an American novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for creating the HBO crime drama series True Detective...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScreenwriter
Date of Birth18 October 1975
CityNew Orleans, LA
CountryUnited States of America
circumstances behave day-life
Often, what allows someone to behave heroically in dire circumstances is unpalatable in day-to-day life.
television firsts window
I was raised by television. It was my first cultural window. It was a constant companion.
service-business
I'm not in the service business.
reputation
It’s better to not have a reputation than a bad one.
academia admitted good liked
I liked teaching, but the bureaucracy of academia and the petty intrigue... It wasn't a good fit. Once I admitted that myself, that I didn't like academia, I was ready to try TV.
close deserved heroes point recognize
For the finale, I thought the audience deserved to get a close point of view on the monster, and to recognize him the way you recognize the heroes of 'True Detective.'
careful die human stories theme
If there was one overarching theme to 'True Detective,' I would say it was that, as human beings, we are nothing but the stories we live and die by - so you'd better be careful what stories you tell yourself.
begin endless invent last second shows stories third year
I enjoy a third act, and I like stories with ending. A lot of my frustration with serialized storytelling is a lot of shows don't have a third act. They have an endless second act, and then they find out it's their last year and often have to hustle to invent a third act, but they were never necessarily organically meaning to begin with.
I made 'True Detective' like it was going to be the only thing I ever made for television. So put in everything and the kitchen sink. Everything.
catholic couple family good grew job novel reviews south state taught wrote
I grew up in a working-class Catholic family in south Louisiana. I went to a state university. I taught literature, wrote a novel that was the novel I wanted to write, and got a couple of good reviews but no real traction. I had no idea how to get a job in TV.
formative grew louisiana nature quality sinister sort spent underneath
I grew up in Louisiana and spent my formative years there. There's a contradictory nature to the place and a sort of sinister quality underneath it all.
job left los program university
I left the University of Chicago's creative writing program for a tenure-track job at DePauw University in Indiana, then left DePauw in 2010 for Los Angeles.
characters compelling fascinated interested job
It's your job to come up with compelling characters who speak to an individual authenticity. If I'm not interested in the characters, I can't go on. I have to be fascinated by them.