It's very important to go back and keep in mind the distinction between handling these events as criminal acts which was the way we did before 9/11 and then looking at 9/11 and saying 'This is not a criminal act ' not when you destroy 16 acres of Manhattan kill 3 000 Americans blow a big hole in the Pentagon. That's an act of war.

I decided that if I were to write a teen series I'd want to set it in a place that was familiar to me - Manhattan where I'd grown up - and I'd model the characters on myself and my friends.

Our job is to represent the truth of human nature whether you're playing a tender love story that's set in a coffee shop or whether you're in 'The Avengers ' which is set in a Manhattan which is exploding.

I'm officially near-famous. If you've got four year old kids and you've got cable then you've got no choice but to know who I am. But if you're one of my peers - a 26-year old guy who lives in Manhattan - you have no idea who I am. I'm only famous if you're four.

There are more people living in Lower Manhattan now than before the terrorist attacks. That's faith for you. There's such a strong spirit here.

And then build a bustling wonderful city of the 21st century with a restoration of a spectacular skyline which Manhattan of course needs. So that is really the design as a whole.

When I was 15 my parents left town for a month. They hid the keys to the car but I found them. That month I drove my stepdad's Thunderbird Super Coupe into Manhattan every day and I would crank Cypress Hill as I flew around the city racing the taxis.

I could be on 52nd and Third in Manhattan up and ask a strange for directions and they will help you that's a rural heart. Your car breaks down in the middle of Iowa or somewhere or Tennessee where I'm from people want to help each other. Given each opportunity you see how people come together.

Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner.