I grew up in D.C. but always had a love affair with New York. I did 'Central Park West,' 'Sex and the City,' 'Law & Order.'

Kids in general make things fresh and alive and they have this great appreciation for, Holy mackerel, we're making a movie!

I don't have that kind of Southern experience of the fire-and-brimstone preacher type of thing. Certainly not in my comedy.

As a writer, I don't have a sense of my own position. I try to disappear and not to think of myself at all when I'm working.

There's very few people who want to just make beautiful films that make money when they can make films that make huge money.

Good history is a question of survival. Without any past, we will deprive ourselves of the defining impression of our being.

It follows the seasons, beginning each year with the fond expectancy of springtime and ending with the hard facts of autumn.

Even though you're in charge you're not completely in ownership. You know, the audience takes a huge ownership of your show.

I just feel it's important to make sure that behind the scenes is as filled with diverse voices as in front of the scene is.

Let the audience put 2 and 2 together so that it comes up with 4. Let them do that themselves, and they'll love you forever.

Well Getaway was a script that was submitted to us for production and I read it and thought it would be a cool movie to make.

The thing about Brando was that I'd make these directions, and he'd walk away. He'd heard enough... to get the machine going.

There's always kids who become stop motion animators. I get stuff all the time. They put it on YouTube. It's exciting to see.

There's very few people who want to just make beautiful films that make money, when they can make films that make huge money.

Stop-motion is sort of twitchy; you can feel the life in it. If we were to remove that completely, there'd be no point in it.

I enjoy total creative control right now. Nobody tells me to make it longer, shorter, better, sexier, more violent, whatever.

As long as you say I'm the guy who's real about it, I have no problem being the person who people look to to talk about race.

I've pitched many things that have not gone, but every year, I'm in that pilot game like a lot of other writers in Hollywood.

I think that for me, as far as audience expectations and how you manage your anxiety, it helps to keep things in perspective.

I looked back at some high school journals and discovered that I definitely wanted to be a writer, but not necessarily comedy.

As a child, I tried to play by the rules. I got very good grades in school; I was an Eagle Scout; and I believed in all of it.

We will see about Obama's legacy. I still think the historical nature of his candidacy will be the biggest part of his legacy.

You never know in TV - sometimes you're on at the wrong time at the wrong place. Sometimes you don't get a chance to catch on.

It's really not my thing to go after what comedians are doing. Because I always feel like we're jesters at the end of the day.

There's something about a new family moving into the White House that's kind of interesting, even if you didn't vote for them.

In all honesty, I've written movies that have been made, and the process has not been as satisfying as writing for television.

In Hollywood people lie to each other and cheat each other and then go and play tennis. But I don't want to be a tennis player.

I guess I'm drawn to religion because I can be provocative without harming something people really care about, like their cars.

You never want to defend a joke. People get to choose whether or not to laugh and whether or not they think something is funny.

You need, as a historian, essential triangulation from your subject and the only way you get that triangulation is through time.

I would just die if some little girl saw me jump into bed with someone in the movies, and then she did it and got AIDS and died.

I'm not a big internet guy - not because I'm not interested in what people have to say, but probably because I'm too interested.

I love the idea of modern art in a home that isn't totally modern. There's a certain energy that comes out of that juxtaposition.

[My] dream writers room: "'Naked City.' Because it still holds up as the absolutely quintessential New York pure cop procedural."

I resisted parenthood for a long, long time. But having a daughter has given me a sense of hopefulness that I didn't have before.

I'm a filmmaker. I'm an artist. I've chosen to work in history the way someone might choose to work in still lifes or landscapes.

If you look closely at 'Breaking Bad' and any given episode of 'The X Files,' you will realise the structure is exactly the same.

Drama or comedy programming is still the surest way for advertisers to reach a mass audience. Once that changes, all bets are off.

History is malleable. A new cache of diaries can shed new light, and archeological evidence can challenge our popular assumptions.

Many times, when you do what I do or work in journalism in general, people try to not explicitly present their opinions on topics.

There's no more important bonding thing than a mother doing the daughter's hair. We sit at our mother's knee and learn who we are.

Women are really emotional creatures, and men are kind of closed in terms of emotions. I think women are just a lot more out there.

The heart and soul of network programming is series programming, the weekly repetition of characters you like having in your house.

I would rather do what I did than crawl in front of a ritualistic Left and lie the way those other comrades did betray my own soul.

Life is challenging for everyone. If someone can believe that he's a sovereign in his tiny domain, it's just an adaptation to life.

I was just an animal lover. Everything that the Sam Simon Foundation does is supposed to help dogs and people - that's our mission.

The first thing you should do with an actor is not sign a contract with him. Take him to dinner. And take him for a walk afterwards.

To be a member of the Communist Party is to have a taste of the police state. It is a diluted taste but is bitter and unforgettable.

I don't like the antagonism that most religions have for science, and freedom and, frankly, individuality. I do like the Dalai Lama.

I think people have this sort of idea that 'Sex and the City' was this overnight sensation, and that can't be farther from the truth.

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