Being involved in NASCAR, I've learned a lot. I've met a lot of people. I've met a lot of special people. I've met some of our leaders. I've met some of the smartest people out there. I've met a lot of average folks. But they've all touched my life and made me look at things differently. I thank the Lord for my good days.
I learned a lot from Clint [Eastwood], who's an extremely economic director. I learned a lot from Michael Winterbottom, who really gave a lot of trust in the actors and allowed them to live in the space instead of trying to manipulate and make it too set and too staged. Working with [Robert] De Niro taught me a lot of being an actors' director and what that is. I've learned a lot from pretty much everybody. Hopefully I've picked up something from everybody I've worked with.
Ive spent over 25 years in the television industry, the direct response industry. I met a lot of people and certainly learned the power of commercials and their brand building potential.
I think that some of the writing, directing, and the content is better than a lot of movies sometimes. Actors, well artists in general - actors, writers, directors - what we all care about the most is good work and being able to create something that is really resonant and meaningful.
Even though I've mostly done movies, TV has developed in such a wonderful way over the past few years in the sense that film directors are being involved and some fantastic actors are committing to seasons of series. There are some fantastic writers working in that medium right now.
When I was younger, I did a TV show in the U.K. for a couple years, and I learned a lot from that. It taught me a lot about being known amongst your peers and having to deal with a lot of derision from them. It's not easy being known as 'the kid from the TV show.' Not in school it's not.
There are some really amazing artists and people behind the scenes who are really effective in championing feminism in the music industry, and I think that's really important for people in the industry and for young girls and guys to see. It should become universal. It's really about the other people understanding that everybody's equal and that women are equally as valid creatives, businesswomen, powerhouses...whatever you want to call them.
The new contract between writers and readers is one I'm prepared to sign up to. I've met some fascinating people at events and online. Down with the isolation of writers I say! And long live Twitter.
I enjoyed working at Fox. I met wonderful people who respected and mentored me. I learned a lot and made life-long friends. The network is an important part of our media landscape, and I want it to thrive.
I think there are a lot more writers who are actors than you know; they just don't have roles on famous TV shows that you recognize.
Some of the best lessons that I've ever learned are on a ball field - basketball, football, baseball, golf. And I learned great lessons from my coaches - being on time, being mentally tough, having some discipline, and being part of a team.
I've heard a lot of great success stories from writers - how so many of them struggled to get where they are and how persistence pays off. I learned that some writers are good at doing readings and some are not so good at it.
I think the problem is, exceptional women will always succeed. But there are plenty of less-exceptional men who succeed. Until we get the less-exceptional women succeeding equally, we do not have full equality.
I don't have to work extra hard, but that's because there are a lot of women in my professional network and I have hired a lot of women as full-time writers and part-time columnists.
The crossover wasn't happening. TV actors were TV actors, and film and stage actors were a whole different thing. And now there's just a lot of crossover.
When I go to a web video meeting and look around, at least half the show runners are women. And a lot are actors-cum-writers who are frustrated with the situation of being a woman actor in Hollywood and have decided to create their own show.