You need characters who want things. They want love, they want recognition, they want happiness.

The women I know who have children and have careers, they seem to be very happy. They love their children and they love their jobs. But happiness comes out of being willing to do your work in your twenties to find out who you are, what you love.

I love things that are old and glittery, that come with layers of glamour and past lives.

New York is a city where people are ambitious. They want things.

What I tried to do with the characters is put them in the same situation that powerful and successful men often find themselves, ... I'm fascinated by what it's like to be a woman in one of those powerful positions because there is really no road map about how you're supposed to behave. Just as society needs to re-evaluate our ideas about femininity and what women can do, we as women need to re-evaluate our ideas about it too.

I'm the kind of person who would have liked to have lived at the Plaza. I love crystal chandeliers and gold leaf, velvets and mirrors, Oriental rugs and marble.