It doesn't matter if you're the smartest person in the room: If you're not someone who people want to be around, you won't get far. Likewise for helping those in line behind you. I take seriously my role as a mentor to young female filmmakers - I make sure my time is tithed.

You don't have to take yourself so seriously all the time.

I want to be someone who can be a role model to kids - and to everyone, for that matter.

I wanted the person with the Southern accent to be the smartest person in the room.

Studios, because they are investing a great deal of money in movies, they want a guarantee that when they hire somebody that person can deliver for them. Everything is fear based, so they pigeonhole people. But I've written everything, from Westerns to sci-fi to dramedy, I've done it all.

We take this matter very seriously and realize time is of the essence.