Every character when born is a stereotype.
I'm happiest in an empty church. I love the smell of a church.
The thing you can't let go of is gravity. The reality of gravity in writing. If someone says something really mean in a sitcom, and the next wave isn't a reaction to the reality of that, you start losing relatability. In a lot of romantic comedies, they throw out the rules of life.
It seems a lot of straight men need a word coach or a lawyer when it comes to discussing 'Sex and the City.'
'Sex and the City' is about outsiders. Single girls as lepers, should have been married by now. It's the reason the whole thing took off.
The jokes I used to do on 'Sex and the City' were always comic character things, and they were rarely hard jokes. As soon as you go up in front of people, it demands laughter.
The first-time director thing is just another label somebody puts on you.
My mom would be leaving the house and she'd say, 'Don't you pull out all of the old dresses in the attic and put on a show again!' And the door would close, and that's exactly what I'd do. The show was calling me!
The second episode of any new show can be tough. You have about a week to top the well-crafted and polished pilot episode that was written over six months.
My female writers have always been my backbone. I had a writing room of six women for five years so I know what women do. Cultivated by me, by the way!
People pull away from something if it's not of good taste. People lean into something if it's okay.
I love funny women. I love writing funny women characters.
I try not to repeat a story. I try not to repeat an emotion. I want it to be all sort of new for the viewers and to challenge myself as a writer, so there's always pressure. What else can you come up with?
People wince when something is in bad taste. They laugh when it's funny. If it's too dirty or wrong, they won't laugh. But if it's a big, dirty, smart, funny laugh, they love it.
Let there be no mistake. A gay man alone could never begin to replicate the inner workings of the female mind.
'Sex and The City' was made to correct the myth that if you were single at a certain age, you were a leper. Its four characters are heroes to a lot of women; they run around New York, or Gotham - but they have fancy shoes instead of capes.
If I talk to a woman for more than five minutes I can tell you exactly whether she's an Aidan girl or a Mr. Big girl. Aidan girls are more interested in nurturing relationships and building a nest while Mr. Big girls are more about show and having fun.
Only two things change when you get older: the energy in your voice and the time of night you feel it's appropriate to call someone. In your 20s, people call at 2 a.m. and yell, 'Are you up?' into the answering machine. Now, someone calls after 8 p.m., and my boyfriend is like, 'Who is that? Who could be calling at this hour?'
With a live audience, it's very clear when you've pushed it too far to the edge - because you fall off that edge and hit bottom with a thud. Nothing abstract about that. You know you went too far when you hear that groan or worse - that silence instead of the big laugh you were expecting following your hilariously edgy joke.
There's no reason to do 'ex and the City' if it's not going to be everything 'Sex and the City' is, which is vibrant emotions, comedy, drama... and also, style.
