Kay Cannon Quotes

I really looked up to Tina Fey as a writer, and because I did have a background in writing, she is someone whose career I really did admire.

Everything I am, everything I've been allowed to do, career-wise, has come out of the opportunity I had with 'Cheers'. I think it's one of the funniest shows ever. They are some of my best friends.

Working with Will Smith was one of the highlights of my career. He is so talented and has a tremendous work ethic. We are still friends, and I reach out to him and his partner to pitch ideas. He loves my mother. In fact, my mother was his son Jaden's acting coach for the movie 'Pursuit of Happiness.'

I don't have many actor friends.

I'm a long-time fan of Rob Long, and his books are hugely re-readable, detailing the ins and outs of being a Hollywood comedy writer with a past success but with everything to prove.

I work a lot, and it's kind of like, you meet people, and you just click. It's not like I'm looking at something and thinking: 'South Park' - how do I get on that?' I just became friends with those guys first. They're nice guys.

I got written out of 'G.I. Joe' and was like, 'Welp, I'm going to go back to what I do: writing and producing comedy.'

My showbiz career started with 'SNL,' and to write an 'SNL' book... well, there are already enough of those.

I don't do a lot of strategizing, career-wise. I was approached by Chris and Phil, the guys who did 'The Lego Movie.' They gave me my first job on 'Clone High.' We've been friends forever, and they asked me if I wanted to write something with them.

Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino gave me such a gift with 'Bunheads,' and to give me this gift of going on 'Gilmore Girls' was beyond. It was awesome.

I wanted to do screenwriting. That's what I went to school for, but my major was overfilled, and when I got 'The Daily Show', I was a semester away from officially starting my major, so I never started that in particular.

I'd worked with Matt Strevens on 'Adventure in Space and Time' and he's a great friend of mine.

I know Noah Baumbach from a long time ago. We were hanging out one night, and he asked if I wanted to be in his movie. If somebody whose stuff you really like says, 'Hey, you want to do it with me?,' you got to do it. I would like to say that I get these offers all the time, but I don't.

In fact, my uncle did his first full play at the Westin Playhouse because my dad put in a good word for him to the producer.

I was so fortunate to get the opportunity to be a writers' apprentice on A Different World. It was my favorite show. So to go from watching Dwayne and Whitley to writing for Dwayne and Whitley was incredible.

Harold Ramis really got my career going and was a friend for a long time. I was doing a play in L.A., and he came to see it a few times and recommended me to Ivan Reitman for Ghostbusters 2. Six months later, I quit real estate and was acting for good, and it was really because Harold took an interest in me and made a phone call and did stuff that people don't usually do, even if they like somebody.

My first break was becoming a staff writer on the rebooted '90210.' And then I got stuck writing in the teen genre for a while.

I didn't get paid to write professionally until my first episode of 'Kyle XY,' which was the fourth episode of the first season.

Corin Nemec, who was on television for years, has been through a similar thing. We both had TV shows, we've had to hit that audition trail, and we were both frustrated. We were both going through divorces, and we decided to write about this stuff. And make it funny.

You tend to do deals with people you have an affinity with, especially at the beginning.

Because I didn't go to graduate school or have mentorship out of college, meeting other playwrights and developing those friendships as a result of being a 'grown up' playwright - that's become an essential community for me. My contemporaries are all my mentors whether they know it or not.

I wanted a Broadway credit, but 'Crazy Ex' came along, and it blessed me.

Chris Young was a big influence of mine, and he's one of my good friends now.

I was earning a living. I was getting into more acting, then 'Coronation Street' came along, and it was the chance of a lifetime.

When I first got the call to do 'Britain's Got Talent', it was actually Amanda who was one of the first people to reach out to me and suggest we go out for a coffee and have a conversation. And we did, and it was great.