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.

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 want to have babies one day but not right now. When I do it I want to do it really well. I want it to be my best project in life.

That's Tommy, this great producer who comes in contact with people and must have a mental library of personnel who are great for this and great for that, and he brought this whole group of musicians to the project that I'd never worked with before.

I have a project at HBO and one at the Family Channel coming that are being looked at. Aside from that I am not doing much more than playing golf and some skiing.

One of the most interesting aspects of the film project was collaborating with so many people - directors, filmmakers, and writers - over a five-year period. I learned that there are two components to this.

To think that we as a publisher (i.e. people who have never actually MADE a game) can have a realistic impact on a project that a team of experts is slaving away on full time for 2 years is a bit arrogant.

In the earliest days, this was a project I worked on with great passion because I wanted to solve the Defense Department's problem: it did not want proprietary networking and it didn't want to be confined to a single network technology.

Every book is a new journey. I never felt I was an expert on a subject as I embarked on a project.

Let's talk of a system that transforms all the social organisms into a work of art, in which the entire process of work is included... something in which the principle of production and consumption takes on a form of quality. It's a Gigantic project.

I think it is important to maintain a sense of self and confidence, not letting either falter for the sake of a particular part or project, no matter how great it might be.

As long as I had easy access to psychedelics at the government-sponsored research project, most of my energy went into psychedelic sessions.

I always listen to a lot of different music when I am working on a project.

For me, every day is a new thing. I approach each project with a new insecurity, almost like the first project I ever did. And I get the sweats. I go in and start working, I'm not sure where I'm going. If I knew where I was going I wouldn't do it.

Believing that our greatest need is for the general public to be able to get better information, to have an opportunity to learn better the real issues of the less fortunate, we centered the activities of the Fairness Project on that.

God would have to beam into me what I was doing and what the album actually sounded like because usually when I start a project like that, I already know what the album sounds like before I start it.

The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison.

It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project.