[on the National Public Radio program "Fresh Air with Terry Gross," describing how a personal crisis of his was the inspiration for his creation of
Mad Men (2007)] My inspiration for writing this piece--the first moment of interaction with really where Don was--was: I was 35 years old; I had a job on a network sitcom; it was rated number nine (which means I was basically in Major League Baseball for my job--there's 300 people in the country that have this job, and I had one). I had three children, and I was like what--this incredible life--you know, I was like, 'What is wrong with me? Why am I unhappy? Why is there so much going on in my head that I can't express to other people because it's all awful? And what is enough? And I'm going to die one day.' And I'm looking at it and saying, 'This is it?' It could be an excuse to behave very badly.
