On the set of 'Girlboss,' I had to keep introducing myself as the show runner - literally, 'Hi, I'm the boss' - to a lot of my crew. My first AD said, 'Why do you keep doing that?' I said, 'Because I get mistaken for an extra.'
Writers who sit down and write might judge what they're putting down, but I always just try to barf it out. I'm writing crap, but I'll put it down.
'Bridesmaids,' I think, opened up a door to allow women to show a bunch of different women in different ways of being funny. It was kind of like an arrival moment.
'Hot Pursuit,' 'Pitch Perfect 2,' 'Trainwreck,' and 'Spy' were all being done in the last year. All four of those movies I just mentioned are not rom-coms: they're all about women doing different things.
I started writing when I was trying to be an actor, and I happened to be friends with Tina Fey, who happened to have her show '30 Rock' coming out. So Tina, who happens to be a mentor to me, gave me my slot and hired me.
Tina Fey is my mentor, whether she likes it or not.
People try to make women a very specific thing so that we like them.
I was in relays for track where you just bonded with all these different kinds of personalities who were coming together for this one common goal of beating a rival team.
When I finished grad school, I moved to Chicago proper, and I was at all the different improv schools, taking classes or interning.
I've seen 'Bring It On,' like, a thousand times.
You never imagine that the Green Bay Packers were going to be in something you wrote or singing 'Bootylicious.'
I was crazy poor, but I was learning and putting myself out there and getting hired to do whatever gig I could and auditioning.
I saturated myself with the improv community.
I started writing for myself because I know how to write for myself. I know how to show what I can do.
I loved all the people involved with '30 Rock.'
I'm actually from a small town about an hour and a half south of Chicago.
I was a writer on '30 Rock' for six years.
I felt that a cappella was the improv world with music, where it's very serious, and there are groups and competition, and some people become famous, and there's a language we speak from one improviser to another.
I was the runt of the family, the shortest and the smallest, so I think they perceived me as the one who was like, 'Look at me!' - just trying to get their attention and being a goofball.
Second City Las Vegas is very different from Second City in Chicago on the main stage, where they do improv sets. That's how they kind of hone material, kind of work up to new material.
