Education Quote by Tony Goldwyn

Goldwyn’s advice sounds like a pep talk until you notice the quiet toughness underneath: decisiveness isn’t just a leadership style, it’s a survival skill in a medium designed to punish hesitation. “The more decisions you make” frames directing less as inspired vision and more as probability management. You’re not waiting for the perfect choice; you’re stacking small, defensible moves until the math tilts your way. It’s a refreshingly anti-genius take on creativity, one that treats momentum as its own kind of intelligence.

The subtext is about power and responsibility. On a set, indecision doesn’t stay internal; it radiates outward as wasted time, frayed morale, and spiraling costs. “You can agonize, but you can’t indulge” draws a sharp line between caring and performing care. Agonizing is private craft - the director wrestling with taste, story, performance. Indulging is public delay - a luxury paid for by everyone else. Goldwyn’s phrasing calls out how easily “artistry” becomes a socially acceptable way to avoid commitment.

“Anything can be fixed” is the other half of the psychological trick: permission to act. It’s not literal (some mistakes are permanent), but it’s operationally true in film and TV where coverage, editing, ADR, and reshoots exist precisely because humans miss things. Coming from an actor turned director, it’s also a bridge between departments: your job isn’t to be right immediately; it’s to keep the machine moving so the work can evolve. “Stuff has to happen” is the blunt ethos of production: the story only gets made if decisions become reality.