I liked writing, and I loved movies, obsessively loved movies, but I had never made the leap of thinking I would actually come out here and write stuff.

You have to be willing to throw [writing] stuff away and replace it.

Not taking criticism of your writing personally is an enormous step towards surviving the studio system.

If you can learn to be incredibly passionate about your work without fighting for it just because it's yours, that's a huge thing.

Probably your first agent is going to be some guy who also handles dog acts.

When somebody would come in with a sketch that was not so good, you figured out in a room how to make that sketch work.

For a living I write stuff that I know is gonna sell to a studio and make a lot of money at the multiplex.