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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?
Abi Morgan -
Yes, I've heard of the 'Mad Men' comparisons, but I like to think 'The Hour' has its own distinctive voice. Although it is set in 1956, I have tried to give it a contemporary edge, and its themes of love, passion, romance, fury, professional jealousy, and personal failure are universal, I think.
Abi Morgan
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Stage is the place of the playwright: you're guided by great actors and directors, but it's the playwright's word on the page that counts.
Abi Morgan -
Chaos is my natural habitat. I write about chaotic situations and about people finding their way through the chaos, the hope that you can find your way.
Abi Morgan -
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.
Abi Morgan -
Having a daughter has reawakened my sense of feminism. I want to protect her.
Abi Morgan -
Of all the mediums, theatre is the one where you really need to have something to say - because it's just you, the words, and the space.
Abi Morgan -
My mother came to see me in a play when I was a student, and afterwards, I asked her what she thought. She said, 'Honest opinion? No.'
Abi Morgan
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I think film and television - particularly film - you are very isolated as a writer. If you're lucky, you have a good relationship with the director. Then you do make that development and come on set and be part of something. But ultimately, your work is kind of done by the time you come on set.
Abi Morgan -
I literally grew up in drama. I used to watch drama - the catharsis of the play - then see drama at home.
Abi Morgan -
My parents' divorce was very difficult. Divorce is essentially incredibly painful, but it's also an essential part of life.
Abi Morgan -
I'm so straight and boring, really. I have two kids and a very nice partner.
Abi Morgan -
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.
Abi Morgan -
I love the intimacy of TV. I love the fact that you don't necessarily have the pressure of an audience or anyone around watching it - just you and it.
Abi Morgan
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I always deeply admire people who can stay still in a room and wait for people to come to them.
Abi Morgan -
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.
Abi Morgan -
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.
Abi Morgan -
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.
Abi Morgan -
Cornelia Parker has inspired a lot of my theatre work. Her art is about points of impact: it's poetic but with a strong literal story.
Abi Morgan -
As a writer, you're not even at the party when you work in film. At best, you're the one laying out the canapes.
Abi Morgan
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Feminism isn't just for women. It's for men.
Abi Morgan -
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.
Abi Morgan -
I always say writing a play is like toothache: I find it incredibly painful, and it's only once the play's out that the pain is gone.
Abi Morgan -
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.
Abi Morgan