Of course I am aware that there is a level of sexism in any large institution, but I find, in television and film, most of the producers are women.
I still always think the greatest moment for me, as a writer, is when I press that button and send the first draft of the script.
I didn't take into account the critical tsunami that comes with having work going out. I've gone from being a complete narcissist, someone who googles my own name, to someone who has to work separately from that to avoid creative paralysis.
I don't look back. I don't look forward. I am totally now.
I was never cool as a kid.
I'm quite interested in doing a film about fashion. As someone with no fashion taste whatsoever, I think it would be good for me.
What's great about the way 'Shame''s been received is that I kept on thinking there's no way this film will be received well since I've had such a good time.
'Splendour' broke through to new territory for me. It exposed my commitment to writing for women: my desire to recognise that they can be as aggressive, violent, mercurial, and complex as men.
It's quite good when you fall flat on your bum on a creative level. Critics can hate what I do, or I've got something completely wrong, and it's good because that ego thing gets zapped for a while.
I never get writer's block, but I do have days where I crawl under the duvet.
I can understand a family that's imploding. I have experience of that in my own life.
I get the 'Guardian' delivered every day and read it very quickly. I like it for both the TV and theatre reviews and because it's very accessible. At the weekend, I get the 'Observer' because I love the food supplement, Observer Food Monthly, and the style section. And I can't resist the News of the World.
I work from about 8:30 A.M. until 7 P.M., five days a week, when I'm not sneaking off to buy another bar of chocolate.
London does two things for me: it makes me feel connected, and it also makes me feel very isolated and quite lonely at times, and that's someone with two children in their family.
There are so many actresses I want to write for. I see them, and I think, 'Why is she not playing that lead? What's happened to that actress?' I think all I can do is to write parts for women, to say, 'Keep going, keep acting, because there are parts for you. There will be those plays.'
I think that, as a writer, while it's your job to construct stories, you have to navigate your way through them with your heart.
I know what it's like to be brought up by actors and writers.
Having a daughter has reawakened my sense of feminism. I want to protect her.
My greatest love is my children, and they have inspired me to fight and stand up for the right things.
'The Iron Lady' is not a biopic. Phyllida Lloyd and Meryl Streep coined it 'King Lear for girls.'
Now I would say I'm absolutely a feminist writer.
Writing a film is like giving birth to a baby and then giving it up for adoption.
I was a pretty heartbroken 13-year-old. That was the year my grandmother died and my parents split up.
I hope my pieces have an authenticity to them, but my job is to filter the world and tell a story, not to define and recreate exactly what's going on.
I understand this fear of the word 'feminism,' and I understand the fear of saying it because it becomes as divisive as 'sexism' has become. But I know a lot of male feminists.
The notion of having your muse was not something that was built for women originally. That's not to say women don't have muses. I get muses in terms of actors or writers who inspire me, so I understand the concept.
Writing comedy is a superpower.
I talk to myself all the time - it's something my children have observed in the car.
Usually when I write a movie, I'm lucky if I get one good actress.
Even if you've been a coward all your life, death is a heroic act.
If you want to fit in, you try to mirror whatever anyone wants from you.
I like bowling with my kids at Shoreditch House.
One of the things I think I can do in my lifetime is stop to remind myself that - and keep affirming that - women can sell movies.
Plays are the marathon of scriptwriting. You fix on a point somewhere in the middle distance, and you start running, and you don't stop until you get to the end. The theory is that you have something you cannot not say: this is the engine that propels you through to the last page.
I spent most of the Seventies living in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and most of the Eighties living in Stoke-on-Trent.
Really, feminism is just about equality, and that's all. It's just saying equal rights.
Plays are painful. But the very act of writing is a basic freedom denied some women. Some would call it a privilege. So what's a little pain?
I used to listen to 'Woman's Hour' every morning, but I've discovered that I can't have words on when I'm working.
I try to stay focused on the work and recognize that I've been very lucky. Maybe it's 'cause I grew up with actors, but I've seen that recognition comes and goes, so all there really is is your family and friends. You have to maintain those constants in your life. Maintain what's beyond your work.
I write an actual script rather quickly - a draft will take me two weeks - but I write a lot of drafts. My big thing is I don't re-read. When I write, I never re-read back. I'll send it, because if I re-read back, it will cripple me.
If you're dealing with a powerful leader, you're inevitably going to have a dialogue with her political past. It was always my intention to interrogate Thatcher's political life.
I need to be in charge, and that comes from when I was growing up and money was always an issue. I didn't want to feel the fear of poverty again, and I suppose, in that way, I qualify as Thatcher Youth.
I think casting is everything. You get a great cast and - certainly, as happens in 'The Hour' - so many of those performances on the page were transformed by those actors who took those parts and made it into something completely different.
I'm a cheap date.
Feminism isn't just for women. It's for men.
You can't control how an audience responds to something. It's up to them.
Eddie Marsan is just my favourite actor of all time. I love everything he's been in, so it's a dream come true to work with him.
When people say to me, 'You're so prolific!' it's, like, no, I'm just hopeless with money.
I am the most tense, annoying person in the world.
