Something happened to me when I wrote female characters in my early plays; it was a real liberation.

Is my job as a child, even as an adult, is my job to heal the wounds of my parents' childhoods?

The job in every re-write is to make it harder for your characters to get the thing that they need.

Well, because my films are really about how people interact with each other, and the complexity, and the nuance, and the surprise of those moments I try to create a safe enough space that allows the actors to operate from their own instincts. My direction is more suggestions, prompts or questions.

I actually didn't grow up in a household that loved Chinese food particularly, and it's not really my go-to food or anything... We were more a pizza family, being from the Chicago area and all.

I want to be Gwyneth Paltrow when I grow up! She's been able to have such a great career, such a great family and she stays so humble and so real.

I've spent my life being responsible, building a career, and waiting to find the right partner with whom to start a family.

The bottom line: if you want a happier family, create, refine and retell the story of your family's positive moments and your ability to bounce back from the difficult ones. That act alone may increase the odds that your family will thrive for many generations to come.