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I've been involved with some huge studio projects that have been bloody awesome. It all starts with a great script, doesn't it?

But most scripts are terrible. Most projects are bad, that's just kind of the way it is. And I'm not really attracted to those.

One of the nice things about the world of filmmaking is that you make friends in the business. Sometimes directors feel a script needs something, but they're not sure what it is, so they show it to a friend; if the friend is a writer, he ends up kicking around with that script for a while.

A lot of times you have to dip into the independent world to find the really great projects and the really great scripts. They're out there - you just have to search hard.

You never undertake a project because you think other people will like it - because that way lies madness - but rather because you believe in it.

If there's a good screenplay, there's a chance that something good is going to happen. If you don't have a brilliant screenplay, then you either have amazing actors who give you the chance to improve whatever is on the page, or an interesting director who has enough faith in the project that they can carry it through and get it somewhere.

The truth is, anyone can start projects. The world is full of just-started projects that looked great at the time but were never completed.

I'm lucky enough that directors sometimes seek me out for little projects that people don't even know about, that just surface later on.

If a script comes together, and you end up liking the people who are part of it, that's when you can make magic happen. It's a huge combination of trying to find something you think you can deliver on and a director you think you can collaborate with to make a good picture.

Most projects that I've done are really not about the project. They're about what's going on inside and around, that journey that we're all on, and what I can do to help that journey further itself and be of encouragement to somebody.