I mean, I've sold all these scripts and nothing's been made. Studios have closed, stars have died. I had a director find Jesus. And the pictures just don't get made.

I mean, when I started out I was billing per hour, like a shrink because you would sit with somebody and work. But most of it, if it's for a live show it's usually a buy-out. A flat fee.

I do a lot of screen re-writing.

Generally with the Oscars or the Emmys there isn't much you can do until the nominations are announced. Then you know what kind of year you're dealing with - what's been overlooked, what the issues are.

Eddie Izzard is absolutely brilliant. I would love to write something for him.

They want to have a big movie star in that role. I'm sure a lot of other people were considered. He wouldn't be anybody's first thought. People forget that he has musical-comedy chops. He comes from musical theater, from Broadway. That's where he began, and so he has a sense of that style. It certainly is a great big acting leap for him. It's going to be interesting to see how he does it.