This is an important mantra for any builder of anything and Breaking Bad director Michelle MacLaren is definitely a builder of things.
MacLaren loves math, sports, games, and puzzles, and sees elements of all of them in filmmaking. “I approach an action sequence almost like a mathematical problem,” MacLaren says. (Vulture)
Another director, Michael Mann, agreed with MacLaren in a separate profile.
“The way my mind works, I have to understand the basic building blocks, then I can generate up,” Mr. Mann said in an interview in his quiet production office here. Given the resources, learning the rudiments of technology “is simple,” he added. “Everything else is terribly complex.” (NYT)
It’s pretty clear to me that builders of movies, books, buildings and really anything are process-oriented and obsessed. They rip things down to the most basic element and build with great care from there.
The good ones, anyway. The ones who have profiles written about them.