All of the material for The Fine Line was created via improvisation with my partner, but not in front of an audience. We'd continue to refine it in front of an audience based on their responses until it was set and scripted.

Robert Altman's Nashville is my all-time favorite film because it covers all the bases - it's original, moving, and has something to say, but also funny and incredibly entertaining.

That said, I should also add that I learned a great deal from being allowed in these privileged circles and am grateful for the opportunity to have worked closely with some of the most powerful and successful people in the business including Steven Spielberg and Ted Turner.

Animation scripts tend to be much more descriptive and are lighter on dialogue.

Right now, writing for me is most rewarding because I'm old enough now to have something to say, which probably wasn't always the case.

While I've lived in L.A. since 1985, I'll always consider Chicago my home town and have much affection for it. My parents and sister still live there so I try to visit as often as I'm able.

I would rather read a poorly structured story that has fresh ideas than a tightly structured one with cliches.

Write the kind of movie you would want to see, in a genre you love.

I love all of Albert Brooks' work from Defending Your Life back to his first film, Real Life, but am sorry that he seems to have lost his edge in his more recent work.

Working in Hollywood can be tumultuous, with incredible highs and lows and you need to be grounded.

There is nothing like the high of being on stage and reaping applause, especially for emotionally needy people like me!

I used to love Woody Allen but feel he's become a hack as a director. Bullets Over Broadway is the only film of his I've enjoyed in the last 10 years.

I know a lot of people in the business recommend the many Story Structure seminars being offered here, but I point to them as the single biggest contributor to lousy scripts.

Originality is, for me, the most important quality in a script.

I am a big fan of the TV series Taxi which combined comedy and pathos better than any other show I've seen.

The major studios don't differ very much from one another as they all operate under essentially the same principles and pressure.

Dick Van Dyke was my first idol. He's an amazing physical comedian, like a classic clown, but also very smart and not afraid to show vulnerability.

But so much of being an actor isn't so great - the auditioning, the rejection, the financial insecurity.

I was only in one play at Steppenwolf, in the early days.

I was born in Chicago and grew up in the suburb of Evanston.

The best way for a beginner to write for animation is to closely watch animated films, then read the screenplays for them afterwards.

I became much happier when I realized I shouldn't depend solely on my career for my sense of self. So I developed other interests and surrounded myself with a small group of friends I could trust.

Unfortunately, all the cliches we see about Hollywood are true.

When I saw The Player, I came out with knots in my stomach because it was so true to my experience.

I'm more concerned with getting them to find and strengthen their original voice as writers rather than imposing my own subjective tastes, judgements or sensibility on the project.

Fear of failure has always been my best motivator.

All of the material for The Fine Line was created via improvisation with my partner, but not in front of an audience. We'd continue to refine it in front of an audience based on their responses until it was set and scripted.

All of the material for 'The Fine Line' was created via improvisation with my partner, but not in front of an audience. We'd continue to refine it in front of an audience based on their responses until it was set and scripted.

I am a big fan of the TV series 'Taxi' which combined comedy and pathos better than any other show I've seen.

I love all of Albert Brooks' work from 'Defending Your Life' back to his first film, 'Real Life', but am sorry that he seems to have lost his edge in his more recent work.

I used to love Woody Allen but feel he's become a hack as a director. 'Bullets Over Broadway' is the only film of his I've enjoyed in the last 10 years.

Robert Altman's 'Nashville' is my all-time favorite film because it covers all the bases - it's original, moving, and has something to say, but also funny and incredibly entertaining.

When I saw 'The Player', I came out with knots in my stomach because it was so true to my experience.

I didn't go to drama school, so I didn't really have many true friends in the business; 'Game Of Thrones' has definitely brought me that.

I've never known a musician who regretted being one. Whatever deceptions life may have in store for you, music itself is not going to let you down.

The average voter has to hear a point seven times before it registers.

If you go long enough without a bath, even the fleas will leave you alone.

Female spies typically represented one of two extremes: the seductress who employed her wiles to manipulate men, and the cross-dresser who blended in by impersonating them.

I love as you come into Paris, you've got the Arch de Triomphe and all that crazy traffic. Then I love the drive from Paris down to Antibes and you veer off east in through the Alps and you come into the south of France on the mountain road as opposed to the freeway.

Syria is a terrorist state by any definition and is so classified by the State Department. I happen to think Iran is too. Iraq, Iran, Syria, they're all involved.

We have seven months before the election. Our top priority as fiscal conservatives is to make sure President Obama retires.

Writing good dialogue is art as well as craft.

To paraphrase Jane Austen, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a married man in possession of a vast fortune must be in want of a newer, younger wife.

I had a very happy childhood, happy teenage years and I was famous by the time I was 22. A charmed life.

My interest in well-being evolved from my interest in decision making - from raising the question of whether people know what they will want in the future and whether the things that people want for themselves will make them happy.

The dizzy rapture of starving. The power of needing nothing. By force of will I make myself the impossible sprite who lives on air, on water, on purity.

I spent over 10 years in the Central Intelligence Agency, serving overseas, serving in the Middle East. And let me tell you, if you're a terrorist and you want to come to the United States, the worst possible way to do it is as a refugee. You'll go through a year and a half to two years of vetting.

I have a relative who is also gay. We can't help it if they were born that way.

I want a family someday and I know that I have to let love in to create that and I think there is someone out there for me, but I'm not on some crazy hunt for that right now.