# Interviews

Sometimes the bad things in life are just there to put us on the path to the best things in life.

... being a part of a community of people who are invested in your growth as an artist gives you a real leg up in this industry, and film school gives you that.

... it’s an easier sell to anybody when you can package yourself in some way, but you don’t have to be limited by the connotations the word “brand” gets you.

No artist should be afraid to let their heritage and identity take center stage in their work ... The moment I decided to honor that history and put it at the forefront of my work, whether that be location or tonality, everything changed for me.

We knew if we couldn’t meet our own expectations that we weren’t going to make MAN. It was that simple.

Let the lessons from one platform of writing spill over into your other writing. Be fluid about it and see what serves the story best.

At some point you have to ask yourself: “Am I writing the best adaptation or the best movie?” And that might mean cutting things you adore from the book or creating an extra scene here or there to bridge a storyline.

I have kind of a weird working method, which is a mix of meticulous, obsessive preparation (researching, pre-visualization, pre-production) and a sort of crazy freedom on set, especially when working with actors.

The whole experience made me a better writer, creator, collaborator, and the fact that it didn’t go to series helped continue to motivate me in stand-up.

... if you hole yourself up in your room and just write and never make an effort to meet people, it will be very difficult to have a successful career as a writer, at least for TV.

Being open about my anxiety has been very freeing, and it’s made people connect with me when they previously might have thought we had nothing in common.

To be a good director in both TV or film, you need to be a good listener. It’s about taking all the best ideas to make the project better and to collaborate.

A lot of people told me not to direct. But it was getting to the point where my scripts just weren’t getting made–or they were being rewritten by morons.

A writer who thinks they can write every genre is not going to perfect any one genre. So know who you are—and that takes time to figure out.

The trick is to be non-stop. Which is not a trick at all, but exhausting. You have to be promoting around the clock. And not just the same post—you have to turn it into an event with your audience.