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Being a screenwriter is not enough for a full creative life.

I've been a screenwriter for twenty-five years. Every one of my books have been optioned for movies and I have written a few of those screenplays.

I consider my job as a screenwriter to pack a script with possibilities and ideas - to create a feast for the filmmaker to pick from.

Since I began making movies, I've always looked for screenwriters instead of going through the long and painful process of writing.

It's hard to make a living as a novelist. My first novel 'Tapping the Source' made quite a splash in Hollywood, and people started asking if I wanted to write scripts. I quickly realized I could make a lot more money that way.

I think I am a writer, but professionally I feel drawn to and suited for directing.

I'm a very slow screenwriter. It takes time for me to write a screenplay. Also, I feel it's not my strength.

It's really hard as a screenwriter, you feel like you have a vision and then you turn it over to a director and you have to let it go.

My background is really being a writer's actor - that seems to be the way I work best, bringing out the best of writing. There's a whole range of acting skills, and some people can be astonishing with very poor material. That's not me; my skill is essentially unlocking the writing.

If I really considered myself a writer, I wouldn't be writing screenplays. I'd be writing novels.