Trying to guess what the (mass) audience wants and then trying to satisfy that is usually a bad recipe for getting something good.

She's a person; the doctor pronounces her dead, not the news.

You know, one of the things I like about this world, or at least I like about the way we're presenting this world, is these issues are terribly complicated - not nearly as black and white as we're led to believe.

Television from its inception had the number one goal to alienate as few people as possible. That's why if you look at 1950s, 1960s American sitcoms, the characters don't live any place in particular, religion is never discussed, politics is never discussed, you never really know what anyone's job is; nothing that could make these people seem different from you is ever discussed.

The hardest thing for me is getting started. If I'm writing a script, really 90 per cent of it would be just walking around, climbing the walls, just trying to put the idea together. Then the final 10 per cent would be writing it.

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

I have a lot of respect for people who are great at ad-libbing, and for writers and directors who are able to create a scene in which that works.