In 'UnREAL', for me, just being so openly feminist, just being so overtly, like, 'This show is about women who are not necessarily likable, doing a job that is despicable, and we are not going to be afraid of that.'

A great thing, which I don't do enough, is to take a break from producing and try to just take stuff in, like go to the theater.

I've watched my fair share of 'Housewives.' And I just felt a little dirty afterwards.

The dream of doing what I do started with watching movies by Mr. Spielberg, like 'Close Encounters,' 'Poltergeist,' and 'E.T.' That was the beginning of my obsession.

On 'Sex and The City', when Carrie talked about money problems, I would always think, 'Sell your shoes!'

On 'Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce,' we have a mandate to hire as many women as possible, but particularly on a show that is about women and about progressive issues like that.

Being an aging woman in Hollywood is no picnic.

The reason I fell in love with Buffy was because of the ambiguity, because she was a superhero and a hot mess. I hadn't seen anything like her on TV - ever.

I had been anorexic for about five years. And I was really sick. I probably weighed about 70 pounds.

You should live hoping you are going to offend people, because then you're doing something.

There's this idea that Hollywood sells over and over again: 'If I just looked more like this, I'd be accepted.'

It's so politically incorrect to make a character gay and then make them 'un-gay' again. Like, once you become gay, you've crossed over, or you're not allowed to be a person who doesn't want to be defined by a label like that.

Sometimes I say working on a story in a writers' room is like saying the same word over and over and over again until it doesn't make sense anymore. Like, you say it until you don't know what you're saying.

I've never had as much success as when I say to myself, 'I get that. I know what the feelings that that character would be going through would be like. I can feel a through line from beginning to end.'

'Just' writing is every bit as important as any other creative part of a film.

That's a big part of the process: making the right choice from the beginning. Not getting distracted by shiny things.

When I was going to get ready to take 'Dietland' up, I have to say I was surprised to find that I felt like maybe we wouldn't find a home for it because it's unlike anything else that I've done.

I've grown and changed, and I'm still making television and movies that I feel really proud of.

Keanu has such generosity and intelligence, not to mention a warmth that I'm eager to tap into. We're all incredibly excited that he's agreed to help us bring 'To the Bone' to life.

I always joke that I'm a feminist with a boob job.

When you work in television, it's an isolating experience. You rarely ever get to watch it with an audience.

Around 10, I got chubby. I knew I'd crossed a line when the only pants that fit were from the 'Junior Plenty' line at JC Penny. My parents had split up, my mom was going through a dark time, and my brother and I were getting bullied in our new neighborhood. Life was big and unsafe.

I spent some time in Vegas when I was doing some canvassing for Obama back in 2008.

Any press is good press.

I'm a big believer in 'Trojan horses' - There are certain themes that are more palatable when wrapped in something fun or distracting.

I'm so excited to be part of the environment that David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Marcy Ross have built at Skydance.

A show can be completely dead before you even get on the air. I've been privy to a couple of those.

I'm pretty proud of my pie crust. I think I've finally learned how to manhandle it just enough.

It's funny: I've joked that 'Sharp Objects,' 'To the Bone,' and 'Dietland' are my self-harm trilogy, and each one is a different side of that triangle, with 'Dietland' really about fighting back.

I think I've also grown a little bit in that I'm not so easily dissuaded if I really believe something.

The status quo is never happy when things become a meritocracy.

I digested this value system that told me there was no one for me unless I reached a certain type of perfection. And as you get older, you realize that ideal is constantly changing.

The bane of every TV writer's existence is the likability note.

That went on for a long time: telling various tales from my experience being anorexic and bulimic, and having people say, 'You've got to write this; you are a writer,' and me not knowing how to approach the material.

I was raised by a lesbian feminist who told me that shaving my legs was giving into the patriarchy. So, I consider myself to be a bona fide feminist.

Scenes on phones are really boring!

It's humiliating, being told you're not responsible enough to make your own choices in life.

There's no shape or body type that makes you more happy or more lovable. It's the body you're comfortable in that makes you happier and more lovable. I look around and see how women and men of all types find the love and the life they want.

I think there's a good-er divorce. I think that's absolutely possible. There's a better way to do it and everything in between, and then, of course, there's the disastrous way to do it.

For me, the interesting thing about anorexia is that you show your wound. There's no hiding it. So my anger and sense of disappointment, all the stuff I was out of touch with, became this visible rebuke to my parents.

I don't like characters who are either good or bad. I just don't experience that in life, so my writing hasn't evolved that way.

Of all the mental illnesses, anorexia has the highest morbidity rate. It's serious.

If there's a theme to where I'm at in my life, it's that 'warts and all' is actually my superpower. Just like you, I'm messed up and I'm capable. I'm this and that.

When people are like, ''UnREAL' is so dark,' I'm like, 'Hahahahahahahahahaha! Wait 'til you get to 'Sharp Objects.''

I think my biggest problem as a creative person trying to work within a business for profit was that it was very important to me that people liked me. Over the years, observing other showrunners who made work that I so admired, I realized that that had to go. This couldn't be my first priority. My first priority had to be the work.

I'm a huge fan of Kathryn Bigelow's 'Near Dark.'

Not proud. But I watched 'The Bachelor' only once, and I really felt, after that experience, that I could never do it again. I felt it was so morally compromising, as a woman.

You really can't quantify what 'Dietland' is.

I think the science around mental illness is always evolving. There's always new kinds of thinking.