Night after night, through years of performing and directing, I've stood in awe of the audience, of its capacity for response. As if by magic, masks fall away, faces become vulnerable, receptive. Filmgoers do not defend their emotions, rather they open to the storyteller in ways even their lovers never know, welcoming laughter, tears, terror, rage, compassion, passion, love, hate--the ritual often exhausts them.

Most of life's actions are within our reach, but decisions take willpower.

God help you if you use voice-over in your work, my friends. God help you. That's flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can write a voice-over narration to explain the thoughts of a character.

To connect to people at the deepest level, you need stories.

We rarely know where we are going; writing is a discovery.

Classical design is a mirror of the human mind. It's how we see the world.

To get the truth, you want to get your own heart to pound while you write.