I always wanted to write movies that I'd direct. I didn't come at it from a writing standpoint more than a directing standpoint, except that growing up, I didn't have the opportunity to shoot as much as I did to write.

I guess I'm interested in people who are very sophisticated in intellectual ways, while being completely off the mark in emotional ones, with huge blind spots in terms of their own behavior.

I've always liked working with friends or, you know, people I have outside relationships with.

How you start the movie is critical. And how often you feel that there's no reason for how it's starting.

I always viewed life as material for a movie.

I wouldn't say 'Frances Ha' is autobiographical, but it's definitely very personal.

There was a telemarketing job one summer in high school that I was rejected for. I still walk by the building that I actually had the interview in. It's still in New York, and I always think about that job and why I didn't get it.