Mark E Smith Quotes

“The Death of Standards

On his way to work, a council health and safety official deliberately knocks over a pedestrian and drives on. Bizarrely, upon arriving at his office he launches into a heartfelt tirade against hit and run drivers. Meanwhile, the department's team leader instigates a series of compulsory redundancies then appears on a local TV news programme to protest against the sackings in the strongest possible terms. Strangely, Jenny Carver – working as a temp in the office – seems to be the only one aware of her colleagues’ paradoxical behaviour. Finding herself trapped in a world where everybody really is their own worst enemy, she begins to suspect there may be some kind of supernatural intelligence at work.”
― Graham Duff

“[Mark] often took expressions from real life and made them feel like dialogue:
“See ya mate!”
“Yeah. See ya mate.”
He overheard sentences and made them feel like poetry:
“Nobody has ever called me Sir in my entire life.”
Fall songs are often script-like. When writing a script the aim is to form those images and ideas into words then turn those back into a visual medium, by performing and filming them. With Mark's songs he achieved that, too, by richly describing the scene, the images would unfold in the listener's mind.”
― Graham Duff, The Otherwise

“I ask if he has any potential stories in mind.
“Sorry Graham, I've not done me prep,” he then clears his throat. “I did have an idea for one called ‘The Death of Standards’.”
I'm thrilled by the fact he already has a title for it. And what a title! He goes on to outline the bare bones of a story about a woman who works in local government. On her drive to work she perpetrates a hit and run. Upon arriving at the office, she rants to her staff about how hit and run drivers should be executed. Then members of her staff start behaving in the same odd manner: performing terrible acts then raging against those very acts. This sounds exactly like something I'd love to watch.”
― Graham Duff, The Otherwise