The real problem with all drugs is that they work. Fantastically. They're great, right up until the moment they kill you.

You can only write, 'Somebody wants something, something else is in their way of getting it.'

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

I had never thought of doing television. But my agent wanted me to meet John Wells, who had had a lot of success producing ER and China Beach. The night before the meeting, some friends were over for dinner and Akiva Goldsman and I slipped downstairs to the basement so we could sneak a cigarette. He said, "You know what would make a good television series? That." And he was pointing at The American President poster. He said, "There doesn't have to be a romance, just focus on a senior staffer."

I don't think I write differently when I'm writing a screenplay, as opposed to a stage play or a teleplay. Maybe if I were in a film class and there was time to think about it, we could point out differences.

The real problem with all drugs is that they work. Fantastically. They're great, right up until the moment they kill you.

Only criminals and adulterers should have to hide who they are.