Shawn Ryan

Shawn: (On the The Shield and it's final season) It holds a special place in my heart and I feel the show deserves an incredible ending, and we're writing towards that, But we don't want to go to quickly. While the actors aren't too keen, these characters deserve some kind of conclusion. It feels like Season Seven is going to be the right time. It certainly feels like long enough that we can take a great deal of pride in what we were able to do as a show, what we were able to do for FX, what FX was able to do for us, and end it appropriately.

Shawn: (On developing The Unit while filming The Shield at the same time) Yeah, that was tough. Fortunately we only did 13 episodes of The Unit, as opposed to the full 22, but there was about three months of last year, from about mid-September to mid-December, where both shows were in production. I relied on my other writers and it says something that the situation gave them more responsibility and more control than in years past, and we probably had our best season. That tells you something.

Shawn:(On David Mamet, creator of The Unit) Mamet is someone that the networks, the studio, I think, in the past viewed a little dangerously, And I'm hoping that any success we might have with this will change their opinions of that, because I've never met someone as committed and professional and intent on making good dramas as he is.