What was it like to collaborate with its creator Maurice Sendak?

SJ: It was amazing. At first I was not really excited about it but then I was also nervous, because his book means so much to everybody and I could only make what the book was to me. Basically at the beginning, Maurice early on said, "You can't worry about any of that.

Don't worry about what I think. Don t be overly reverential to the book. You have to take this and make it your own and make something personal."

His only rule was not to pander to children, and make something honest. He really pushed us and has always been so supportive of us, and it's been an amazing friendship. He's a producer, but he's so much more than that -- he's our mentor and our friend.

Q: You said that this was six years in the making. How did it come to you, and what those six years were like? SJ: I guess the first couple was spent in writing the script.

I had moved to San Francisco to write with noted author Dave Eggers, and then after that it was probably about six months or something of trying to ... more.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.