For artists, there's a very fine line between delusion and belief.

The step that a lot of people miss is a dispassionate evaluation of the reasons [for rejection]. If you can dispassionately evaluate the reasons for rejection and find them with merit, you can address them; if without merit, you can ignore them.

'Write what you know' works, but it's limiting. Write what fascinates you. Write what you can't stop thinking about.

Hollywood is a land of self-invention.

If you are rigorous in your own R&D in whatever your area is, you do your own testing, and you really stress-test the thing that you do, I think that gives you a tremendous amount of inner fortitude when you come up against the monolith.

Everyday, it's about building a practice that enables you to try and forget that you're afraid.

All screenwriting books are bullshit, all. Watch movies, read screenplays. Let them be your guide.