I believe the better I can write on my own, the better I can be of service in a co-write. The big thing with a co-write is trust, and it's not so much what you get the first time you sit down with that writer. It's the relationship that you build tha...
I'm one of those sad cases who've never wanted to be anything but a writer. I started writing my first novel when I was five years old. I have no idea what it was about, but I do remember spending considerable time trying to get the title right, thou...
My first plays were amazingly bad, but I had a teacher who thought I had promise, and he kept working with me. I finally went to a summer workshop before my senior year with people like Sam Shepard and Maria Irene Fornes who encouraged me to write fr...
I was never a class clown or anything like that, but I do remember being in the first grade and my teacher, Mr. Chad, told the class one day that we were going to do some exercises. He meant math exercises, but I stood up and started doing jumping ja...
It's easy to say why I love coming to Chicago for my signings, because I still remember the very first time I came to Chicago, right before 'Shiver' came out. I remember I was so struck by the feel of the city, how wide open it felt, even with these ...
Amy Winehouse was not a person I ever met, and I can't say that I am overly conversant in all of her music. I do have her albums, and years ago, when I first heard her sing, I thought she was extraordinary. The tone of her voice, her phrasing, her ra...
I directed my first music video for Sara Bareilles. I like writing and directing. I co-wrote '21 Jump Street' and I'm in that. To me, they all inform the other one. I think writing makes you a better actor, acting makes you a better writer, directing...
When I first started making music, I didn't really know what I was doing. I just wanted to write songs. I didn't have a concept. I didn't think it through. I was just flailing around doing what comes naturally. It took me a really long time to step b...
My parents being Bengali, we always had music in our house. My nani was a trained classical singer, who taught my mum, who, in turn, was my first teacher. Later I would travel almost 70 kms to the nearest town, Kota, to learn music from my guru Mahes...
I've always dreamed of having an album. The problem is that it's just very difficult to make an album nowadays because through technology, music shifts so fast, especially electronic music. Once you make five songs, the first one you did is already o...
I lived in South Africa until I was 11 when we first immigrated. My mom had sent me back there when I was 14 for summer vacation. I wasn't doing very well in school, my grades were slipping. I called my mom one day and told her that I wasn't coming b...
Writer: You see, what stands out at a first reading is the lack of a central issue or a philosophical stance. That makes the film a chain of gratuitous episodes which may even be amusing in their ambivalent realism. You wonder, what is the director r...
[after meeting Ricky Fitts for the first time] Angela Hayes: What a freak! And why does he dress like a bible salesman? Jane Burnham: He's just so confident, it can't be real. Angela Hayes: I don't believe him. I mean, he didn't even like, look at me...
[first title card] Title card: This story is neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even tho...
[first lines] Town Crier announcing capture of Richard: News has come from Vienna: "Leopold of Austria has seized King Richard on his return from the Crusades. Our king is being held prisoner. Nothing further is known. His Highness Prince John will m...
[first lines] Christy: [voiceover] There's some things you should wish for and some things you shouldn't. That's what my little brother Frankie told me. He told me I only had three wishes, and I looked into his eyes, and I don't know why I believed h...
Elaine: Would you gentlemen care to order your dinners? First Jive Dude: Bet, babe. Slide a piece o' da' porter. Drinks, I run da' java. Second Jive Dude: Lookie here. I can dig grease 'n chompin' on some buns and draggin' through the garden.
Wasabi: [seeing 'quarantine' sign on fencepost] Quarantine? Do you guys know what quarantine means? Baymax: [defining] Quarantine: Enforced isolation to prevent contamination that could lead to injury, or in some cases, death. Wasabi: [quite at first...
Claire Standish: [about her parents] I don't think either one of them gives a shit about me. It's like they use me just to get back at each other. Allison Reynolds: [her first word of dialogue so far] Ha! Claire Standish: [long pause] Shut up!
[first lines] 1985 radio announcer: October is inventory time, so right now, Statler Toyota is making the best deals of the year on all 1985-model Toyotas. You won't find a better car at a better price with better service anywhere in Hill Valley. Tha...
[first lines] Young Jennifer: How 'bout a ride, mister? Marty McFly: Jennifer! Oh, man, are you a sight for sore eyes; let me look at you. Young Jennifer: Marty, you're acting like you haven't seen me in a week. Marty McFly: I haven't.
