I love horror movies. I consider myself a horror author, sometimes.

I feel like having an actual taxidermy-ed mammal would get gross, like its hair would get dirty and stuff.

Horror is so basic. You'd get an adrenaline jolt from watching your mom get gored by a woolly mammoth. A horror movie gives you the adrenaline without having to have your mom get gored.

I was tired of working in an office and I wanted to make a living telling stories. There are not many people who find a way to do this.

In fiction, I have a residual guilt when I focus on story over language or mood or whatever - the more "literary" things. In screenwriting, I don't have that guilt because story is the only thing. Character, dialogue, everything else - they feed into and drive story.

The Shield made me realize there were great opportunities for writers in TV.

Yeah, most guys don't like to think about going to a bar with a girlfriend and watching her leave with someone else.