Mary Steenburgen

I'd already made the decision before I'd even read it-just because it was John Sayles. Then when I read it, the themes were actually themes that have been a big part of my life.

I am lucky enough not to have to take jobs unless I love the material.

It's usually, my people speak to your people and then they speak around each other and trade calls for weeks.

It's good to like yourself, and that only comes from hard work, from doing. But vanity is dangerous; it can trip you badly.

A 'live' show is either alive or not. Free speech is free or it is not. Viewers are free to use their remote or TiVo. Parents are responsible or they are not.

Although I write to entertain, and try to keep my work free of didacticism, I do have a rather passionate belief in our need to be connected to - and to learn from - history.