The criminalization of file sharing is pathetic. It's so pathetic, it's almost funny. Imagine if the radio people would have lobbied for a federal law enforcement agency to raid all homes for illegal transmissions of moving picture experiments in order to stop the invention of television. It's ludicrous.
The thing about TV is that it's great work for directors because the responsibility is not ours at all. In a movie, you choose a movie, and everybody points his or her finger at you afterward. It doesn't matter how much influence you had on the script, how much decision you had, or the fact that you didn't have final cut.
When I first made 'Green Street' and I was considered a hot director, I pitched everybody, but there was always this feeling that I was being underestimated in the room. I pitch TV, and nobody underestimates me. They literally think you could be the next whoever, and that is a very cool thing.
In terms of writing and developing, TV is very open because TV needs stories. They need new pitches, and they need new ideas. They don't always take the risk for new ideas, but they are certainly open to it. They can't have enough people come in and pitch to them. It doesn't matter how they look or what gender they are.
As someone who grew up in Europe, I don't look at TV and automatically think of a primetime network series, created by a staff of writers. I think of 90-minute movies that can break talents out or a three 90-minutes-an-episode mini series that can introduce a fantastic new series like 'The Blechtley Circle.'
2015 was an interesting year for me. After finally getting back behind the camera at the end of the summer to shoot the CW's 'Arrow,' I found myself a couple of months later in a federal building in downtown Los Angeles, trying to convince half a dozen security guards to let me make my EEOC appointment despite my expired driver's license.