I think to an extent every human being needs to be redeemed somewhat or at least needs to look at themselves and say, 'I've made mistakes, I'm off course, I need to change.' Which is probably the hardest thing for a human being to do, and maybe that's why it interests me so.

I don't think I'm like Shakespeare.

'The Dark Knight,' for me, has the same problem that every other 'Batman' movie has. It's not about Batman. I think Heath Ledger is just phenomenal and the character of the Joker is beautifully written. He has a particular philosophy that he carries throughout the movie. He has one of the best bad guy schemes.

We talked about various aspects of what we wanted to talk about, Hillary [Clinton] and [Donald] Trump and down-ballot stuff, various issues. One of the things that it showed was you've got to use fear.

I respect the rules of TV, the rules of keeping things commercial and interesting and pop-y and fun.

I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of.

You can either watch TV or you can make TV.