Jack Thorne

“When you write a script, you hope that people will give it life beyond the script.”

“Obama said that his performance at bowling was so bad 'it was like the Special Olympics or something.' Disability, by Obama's definition, was about difference and failure.”

“Writing is one of those jobs that everyone has an opinion on. I don't think this is a bad thing.”

“I tended to be the nerdy kid - stood at the back, watching other people having fun - I wasn't always necessarily a big part of the fun myself.”

“I think London is a bit sad, and I find it a bit overwhelming. There's a lot of quite unhappy people, and it's very goal-driven.”

“The world changes and we change with it.”

“I can't do anything other than writing. I'm not very able, generally. If I'd not been a writer, I would probably be a very unsuccessful political adviser to someone or have worked for a council.”

“I wrote my first play because I wanted to try directing something, and I couldn't afford the rights - it was an adaptation of a book called 'The Wave' by Morton Rhue.”

“I am trying to write a play that is big and I feel represents me - that's my big ambition.”

“I don't really write with actors in mind; I write with characters and then hope desperately that we can get good actors to play those parts.”

“I like working. But now I have a deal with my wife that I take a half-day off each week.”

“I've just had a little boy, and my wife and I called him Elliott because 'E.T.' sort of saved my life because that film is absolutely about something being out there that's greater than yourself.”

“It's not that I don't like other people - I do. I just don't like me.”

“At my school, when kids went into the army at 16, they didn't do it in a gung-ho, Tom Cruise, 'Born on the Fourth of July' way. They were generally - and I hope this doesn't offend them - the more vulnerable members of the class. They enlisted seeking family, and they didn't always find it.”

“The stressful time is the blank page at the beginning. When you're starting to see things being made flesh, and you're able to respond to that flesh, that's really exciting.”

“SCORPIUS: The world changes and we change with it. I am better off in this world. But the world is not better. And I don't want that.”

“The thing about having a very young audience in the theatre is that sometimes they laugh at the bullying scenes. It's really interesting, what that means. It still confuses me slightly, you know; someone's getting quite brutally bullied on stage and people are laughing. I think it's very hard being young.”

“Hanging out with Pierce Brosnan on the set of 'A Long Way Down' was quite an extraordinary thing to do. The interesting thing is, he never behaves like a star. He's a really nice man.”

“I find small talk exhausting, and I don't like myself when I'm around people.”

“I really do love working. There's no day where I don't want to write.”