A great screenplay is the most powerful bait in Hollywood.

Most things in my life I had before leaving home. Values, support, great family. I was shaped at an early age. A musician playing guitar, I wanted to be a folk singer.

It's a whole other way of working when you work in films: You know exactly the arc of your character.

I've not had a mean life.

I didn't worry about leaving the fast lane - I was just so consumed with my baby that it seemed like the right thing to do. I never felt like I left New York, though. If you've lived in a place and loved it, you never feel like you left it.

A great screenplay is the most powerful bait in Hollywood.

But you finally think, there is what there is, and you have to work within those confines and just keep chipping away at your own work.