Seeing More In Your World

“Little kids grow up discovering the world that's shown to them and then when you become a teenager, it kind of shrinks a little bit. I think when you get past that point, one of the important things is that you see there is more to the world than yourself.” – Kenneth Lonergan

Lonergan, born on this date in 1962, started his writing career as a speechwriter for the Environmental Protection Agency and then graduated to doing industrial scripts for such companies as Fuji Film and Weight Watchers.  Once he got the bug for writing scripts, he went to work on plays and had his first theatrical success with the play This Is Our Youth.

After a number of on- and off-Broadway hits, he tried his hand at a movie script, and his gangland comedy Analyze This was a boxoffice winner.  He quickly showed he had the chops to do more, being a major contributor to the Academy Award-nominated Gangs of New York.   Since then he’s continued to be one of the most successful Broadway and movie writers.  He said he thinks people like his work because they can identify with his characters and have a clear understanding of what those characters are portraying.

“I feel like if you can describe something fully and accurately,” he said,  ‘then people will be able to see it themselves – they don't need be told what to.”

Kenneth Lonergan