When you realize there are geniuses out there and you'd be a journeyman... that's not good enough. I'd rather be the person helping those who are one in a billion get their vision out.

I think there is nothing that can replace your emotional response. The biggest mistakes I have ever made in my life are when people told me, "You really should produce this. It's a guaranteed hit." I would read the material and I would go, "I don't get it, but okay, I'll produce it." You're giving up that much of your life, your time with family and friends, to something that you're not really committed to - and they did not pan out the way everyone said they would, even though I worked just as hard.

It's more important to get the right writer and the right take than it is to do something in a particular timeframe.

Film-making is a business and at the bottom line people who don't make fiscally responsible decisions end up going into another line of work.

I'm a huge historical fiction and non-fiction fan.

Generally I try to be on set as much as possible, especially during the early part of a season. I read all of the outlines and scripts and look at the auditions and the cuts for my other shows and give notes on all of that. There's a lot to do, but I enjoy nothing more than being on set because that's where the magic happens.

The people green-lighting films or TV series often want household names, but the smart ones realize that there are lightning rods who can make things happen, and they aren't necessarily the ones who are celebrated.