I find the constraints of drama actually freeing: It brings everything down to character and action.

I made True Detective like it was going to be the only thing I ever made for television. So put in everything and the kitchen sink. Everything.

The Atlantic really gave me my writing career - even just the conviction to be a writer.

Often, what allows someone to behave heroically in dire circumstances is unpalatable in day-to-day life.

I knew the past wasn't real. It was only an idea, and the thing I'd wanted to touch, to brush against, the feeling I couldn't name - it just didn't exist. It was only an idea, too.

I was raised in a heavily Catholic family. Early and consistent encounters with mysticism.

In the summer of 2010, I had decided to get into film and TV writing, so I wrote scripts for six different ideas I had developed, and the pilot for True Detective was one of them.