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.

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.

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

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."

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

I want to convey that I'm crazy about the Kardashians - but I'm not sure which is which.

The downside to series television is that the schedule is ferocious. It constantly feels like you have a midterm due that you haven't started yet.