I was always writing scripts, and I had made several shorts, before and after film school. But I worked a variety of temp positions over the years.

You only get one world premiere of your directorial debut.

From stoplights to skyscrapers, turn anywhere in civilization and you will see imagination at work. It's in our inventions, advances and remedies and how a single parent masterminds each day. Imagination is boundless, surrounds us and resides in us all.

I love so many different genres. I love crime films - and unusual coming-of-age pieces.

In these times of stress, snark, division and despair, I still suspect that two of the most important features we possess are imagination and a capacity for goodness. Those are qualities for which we will be remembered most fondly.

There is so much talent out there and not quite as much opportunity.

I'm interested in how innocence fares when it collides with hard reality.