I had a long writing history behind me before I got into anything in film. It comprehended science fiction, it comprehended historical, it comprehended, you know, just about everything that you can think of.

You're not turning the picture over to a system or a process, you are the process, and the most important thing is to have things exactly as you want them.

I don't like scripts leaking. On the other hand, the more real attention a script gets, the better.

If you see, as I do, in edited film, you're going to end up as a director.

I have a lot of stuff that I never published because I always had a sense that novels were not finally going to be the way I made my living, because the form was dying commercially.

When I'm shooting, as much as writing, I see edited footage in my mind, so I work that way, and it's economical.

I never work until I have a deadline. You have to fit so much in a given day that you just don't get serious until you know when the deadline is.