Don't ever forget that you're a citizen of this world, and there are things you can do to lift the human spirit, things that are easy, things that are free, things that you can do every day: civility, respect, kindness, character.

Just to clarify the division of labor on the show, I write the show and Alan [Poul] does everything else.

It's nice that HBO is in business with the audience and not with the advertisers. There's a difference.

It was hard saying goodbye to the character and harder saying goodbye to the actor. When rumours started going around that Rob Lowe might be leaving I got an email from Josh Malina asking if I'd be interested in an actor who was cheaper and not as good looking. I wrote back, "Always", and that was that.

I wrote the show West Wing for the two years before and the two years after 9/11. Suddenly everyone in the world had been through something that our characters had not been through; the whole trajectory of the world had changed. Yet our show took place in a parallel universe. I wasn't really sure what to do about this. In no one's wildest dreams did it occur that an event like this could possibly happen.

Film doesn't have to worry. Movies are awesome. There's no war going on, theaters aren't going to lose.

If you feel that strongly about something, you have an obligation to try and change my mind.