I don't really analyze my stuff when I write. I write about stuff that I'm interested in, that I'm feeling at that particular time. When I stand back and look at the complete work, I might see themes that run through the whole film, but I'm not really conscious of it when I'm doing it.

People of color have a constant frustration of not being represented, or being misrepresented, and these images go around the world.

My grandmother lived to be 100 years old. Her grandmother was a slave, yet she was a college graduate in the Spellman class of 1917. She taught art for 50 years and she saved her Social Security checks for her children's education.

It gets dangerous when you start allowing people to validate your work.

I collect names for characters. Names are valuable; they can be your first source of insight into a character.

I'm not the go-to guy. Everybody is trying to tell their story and have different ways of telling it.

It comes down to this: black people were stripped of our identities when we were brought here, and it's been a quest since then to define who we are.