I Can Talk Endlessly About Characters, Or

If I Were Doing Somebody Else's Script Or I Adapted A Book By Philip Roth, On Set There Could Be A Million Different Interpretations Of The Material And People Could Argue With Me. Certainly On Synecdoche, New York We Had Discussions And Arguments, But I Felt Like I Had Authority Because I'm A Writer.

So When I Write Characters And Situations And Relationships, I Try To Sort Of Utilize What I Know About The World, Limited As It Is, And What I Hear From My Friends And See With My Relatives.

I Don't Think Screenwriting Is Therapeutic. It's Actually Really, Really Hard For Me. It's Not An Enjoyable Process.

I Really Like When Critics Reveal Their Subjectivity And Their Humanity. I Prefer It When People Say Nice Things, But If They Say Not-nice Things Or Things That Are Critical, I'm Open To It And I Accept It. I Mean, I Have To Live With It. But I Do Think There's A Dishonesty In Not Acknowledging That You're A Person With An Opinion. I Think It's Almost Like A Power Grab.

I Have A Background In Theater, So I Have Experience With Actors. I Like Actors - I Used To Be One.