Radio Drama

[...]
Q. How'd you like the movie?
A. Fantastic cinematography.
Yeah, but so what? Hitler had fantastic cinematography.
The question we have ceased to ask is, "What was the fantastic or brilliant cinematography in aid of?"
As "fantastic cinematography" has been the death of the American film, "production" has been the death of the American theater.
"Production" or "production values" is code for forsaking the story. "Production values" is a term invented by what used to be called "angels" when they were in the theater to meet members of the chorus, and who are now called producers, and God knows why they are in the theater.
Writing for the radio teaches there is no such thing as "production values." The phrase means "Pour money on it," and it has been the ruin of television, movies, and the professional stage. It is The Triumph of the General-The Celebration of Nothing to Say.
If Mount St. Helens could fit in a theater some producer would suggest teaming it with Anthony Hopkins and doing Huey. That is "production values."
But radio drama, God bless it, needs inventive actors, an inventive sound-effects person, and a good script. You can produce it for next to nothing. The writer and the actor can both practice and perfect their trade away from the counterwailing influence of producers, critics, and money;
[...]

David Mamet, Writing in Restaurants.