The singing tells everybody what to do musically.

Writing screenplays makes me a better musician because it clears my head. After writing a movie, I go running back to music as fast as I can.

L.A. is full of screenwriters. I don't know why. On many levels, it's such a thankless occupation.

That's what we [outsiders] feel America is really about - the kind of crazed ravings of the Christian right - when it's probably something quite different.

I write a lot, and very often I write a couple of lines that are particularly revealing in some kind of way. And then as a few more lines get added and a piece gets added, eventually the song pretty much takes over and you can't really find a way to change those things.

I became a script writer with absolutely no idea of how to write a script whatsoever. I still feel a bit of an outsider in that regard. If I can maintain that approach to screenwriting, it can continue to be enjoyable.

I'm not religious, and I'm not a Christian, but I do reserve the right to believe in the possibility of a god.