David Chase

Creator of The Sopranos David Chase spoke with us for an hour about what it took to make one of the most revered TV shows of all time. Chase reflects on The Sopranos 15 years after it premiered in 1999 and sparked a renaissance in TV programming.
Transcription Notes

Interviewer: Matt Shedd
Interviewee: David Chase

Matt Shedd: Thanks so much for taking the time to do this.
David Chase: My pleasure.
MS: So I just want to start off, in light of James Garner's recent passing, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind sharing what it was like writing for him for so many years?
DC: That was the classiest operation going in TV, or maybe anywhere in Hollywood, and I think it all came down from him.
He was very much a perfectionist. Very, very concerned about content and quality, but never monomaniacal or abusive or crazy about achieving his ends. In that company--Cherokee Films was the name of his production company--everybody was treated with great respect and affection, and it was…I can't say i