Paul Rust
In high school, I was crazy in love, and I would make handmade construction paper valentines every month for our monthly anniversaries. Then I'd go early in the morning and tape one to her car. It sounds sweet, but let's be honest: it was a little weird. I was probably crossing some lines.Collection: Anniversary
I remember watching Quentin Tarantino accept an Academy Award for screenwriting for 'Pulp Fiction.' If I'd known then that 15 years later one of his movies would again be nominated for an Oscar and I'd be in it - that would be pretty crazy.Collection: Movies
I wrote on the fourth season of 'Arrested Development.'
Things are constantly in flux and changing, and as crazy-making as that can be, it's also the thing that can get you through tough times - 'Well, things change.'
I don't believe in love at first sight.
I grew up in Le Mars, Iowa, and even though it's a great place to grow up and be raised as a kid, there wasn't a lot to do. It was fairly boring, and I think the way I either escaped the boredom or found a way to keep myself occupied was through movies and TV shows.
Growing up in a small town, in the Midwest, and Catholic - those are sort of three layers of repression.
Probably around junior high, I became obsessed with films.
With Quentin Tarantino, he makes movies imagining himself as the audience. To be specific and true to what he wants resonates to people who like his movies.
It made me proud to know I'd join a long gallery of actors covered in blood in movies.
At one point, I just decided that it might be more creatively rewarding to put my time into writing on stuff that I could really be proud of rather than trying to get a one-episode part on 'Modern Family' or something.
If I'm not emotionally stable, should I put myself in a relationship? Because wouldn't that mean that I'm just using it as a distraction from my problems?
I come from standup and improv.
It's a lot of people's goal to be the lead in a movie, and that was never my goal. I just wanted to be the third banana in an ensemble comedy.
Being sincere and true to yourself is a scary thing but, ultimately, a rewarding one.
In real life, a relationship takes a long time. Either somebody is involved with somebody else, and that's ending, or somebody's hung up on an ex, or your job isn't going right, and so you're focused more on that than relationships. It just takes a lot for two people to get together.
The thing that I get most excited about is that it does feel like a new realm of storytelling is being created before everybody's eyes. You can do something that's not exactly a movie and not exactly a TV show, something in between.
In real life, there are some times where a partner has cheated on somebody, and that person never found out about it. I have to imagine that that's happened before. It's a thing we don't really want to think about, because it's maybe the most painful thing to think about in a relationship - 'What if I've been cheated on and never knew?'
My sweet spot, the stuff I like the most, is hopeful melancholy. Optimistic melancholy.
'Cannonball Run II' - you watch that, and it looks like they're having a good time, but it's not necessarily a masterpiece.
Scott Aukerman and Judd Apatow are two people who I owe a lot to, and it's always great to work with Scott whenever I can.
I always liked the 'Mad Men' philosophy where people don't really change.
I'm married now, but I fell in love with my wife because she was talented. Talent - it's the big one.
If you read scripts, you would see people rarely speak like that in real life, in complete sentences.
I don't really like the term 'honest.'
Some people have interpreted the title of the show - 'Love' - as ironic. For me, it's sincere. The idea that we have to agree with love is a genuine statement about love.
It's tough - and I'm not the first person to say this - but cliches exist because they actually happen in real life.
Love takes a lot of work.
It's such a thrill in a relationship to be able to collaborate creatively. It's very romantic, and I like it.
Certainly on a date, I've been over-focused on, 'Is this person comfortable or not?' and then deciding for them that they are not comfortable and I will help them, which is death for a first date.
I'm sure that it's a universal experience, but I wonder if it gets exacerbated more in Los Angeles, where people are constantly looking over at the other people, going, 'Why don't I have that? I want that. Their table looks warmer.'
The first text I ever got was somebody breaking plans on a first date. That was, like, the worst way to be introduced to a new technology is with rejection.
I want to be liked. Everybody wants to be liked.
I was such a fan of Quentin's growing up. I remembered I wanted to see 'Pulp Fiction' so badly, but my mom had seen it, and even though she loved it, she just thought it wasn't appropriate for a 13-year-old.
My mom did this really cool thing: when 'Pulp Fiction' came out on video, she made, like, a 'mommy edit.' She took two VCRs and dubbed 'Pulp Fiction' from one tape to the next and edited out all the parts she thought were unsuitable for a kid. It was basically, like, the opening and ending credits.
I think the desire to be funny was a mixture of wanting to be liked but also wanting to throw your elbows a bit.
I gotta say, the Catholic Church has churned out a lot of great artists and directors and actors, so if that's all they do, that's fine by me. If they're good at churning out tortured artists, that's great!
In your 20s, you're checking your bank account to make sure you're not broke. In your 30s, you're looking at yourself and realizing you're broken.
I remember doing this little physical gesture of holding up my foot and having my foot wave around while I held my ankle. It got a big laugh, and when people started laughing, it dumped some chemicals on my brain. It just felt so good.
It would be easy for someone to think growing up in a small town would be like 'Footloose' or something, that it would be, 'No dancing allowed!' all the time, but it was quite the opposite. People always got excited for me and my successes and supported me even though I was a little weirdo goofball.
If you watch most of the stuff on TV and in movies, it's usually put-down humor. It's like somebody being mean or cynical or thoughtless to another person. I never wanted to be that type of comedian.
With so much of what I write, I'm just constantly wondering out loud, 'Do other people feel this way?'
Growing up in Iowa, there weren't many people who looked like me. And then when I moved out to L.A., every guy in comedy looked like me.
I want to give every single character the dimensions and complexity of a main character.
I would never turn down an invitation to co-write another Pee-wee Herman movie!
I grew up loving Pee-wee Herman. I was obsessed. I was the kid at school who everyone knew was obsessed with Pee-Wee.
A lot of the time, a comedy script is just dialogue, and that's the main thing you have to worry about.
Me and my comedy writer friends talk a lot about how we love 'Die Hard,' but we'll never be able to write 'Die Hard.'
Writing on 'Love' is so steeped in self-analysis. The writer's room can feel like therapy.
Most relationships probably start with people going, 'Meh, it's probably best not to be embarking in this relationship.' We do it, though, because our brains are wired to make babies or whatever.