If the world is in complete flux for me and life is falling apart, if I just manage to get myself in front of a computer or at my desk, it calms.
My parents' divorce was very difficult. Divorce is essentially incredibly painful, but it's also an essential part of life.
I am always running away from something.
Chaos is my natural habitat. I write about chaotic situations and about people finding their way through the chaos, the hope that you can find your way.
Even if you've been a coward all your life, death is a heroic act.
I need to be in charge, and that comes from when I was growing up and money was always an issue. I didn't want to feel the fear of poverty again, and I suppose, in that way, I qualify as Thatcher Youth.
Yes, I've heard of the 'Mad Men' comparisons, but I like to think 'The Hour' has its own distinctive voice. Although it is set in 1956, I have tried to give it a contemporary edge, and its themes of love, passion, romance, fury, professional jealousy, and personal failure are universal, I think.
I always felt a bit of a nerd, but my family gets me and my oddities. My kids and partner are way cooler than I am, but they let me in the room with them.
Usually when I write a movie, I'm lucky if I get one good actress.
I got dumped off 'The Iron Lady' a month before they started shooting, and then they brought two new writers on. Then I was brought back on again. I'm just a bit of a rubber ball. I just bounce back.
Feminism isn't just for women. It's for men.
Most good work is a combination of parts you love and parts you could do better. My constant mantra is, 'Next time, next time, next time.'
I used to believe in God as a child. God, for me, was linked with hope.
I love the South Bank: every era of architecture is there, and you can stop, look, and listen.
If you want to fit in, you try to mirror whatever anyone wants from you.
I'm a cheap date.
Life experiences inherently change you as a writer. My sense of fury calmed down when I had children and found a loving partner.
Of all the mediums, theatre is the one where you really need to have something to say - because it's just you, the words, and the space.
I never know if I'm the builder or architect. The role shifts all the time. But what I have come to conclude is that the script is the muse.
I don't really read that many magazines; I'm more of a browser. I get 'Vanity Fair' quite often if I'm on a train.
