Chris Columbus

Leading characters who are underage and develops through situations
His films often have a brief, often humorous, scene after or during the end credits.
Common theme in his movies is children triumphing over adults

In the original script, Gremlins (1984) was meant to be a much darker horror film in which the mother was decapitated, the family dog was eaten, and the adorable Mogwai "Gizmo" actually turned into the infamous Gremlin "Stripe".
All of his four children made cameos in the Harry Potter films he worked on.
The only Harry Potter director to not make a cameo appearance in one of the films.
One of Columbus's daughters had trouble reading until she read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in two days which opened her eyes to the world of books. After reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, she asked Columbus to make films out of them, but there were 50 other directors already interested. Columbus fell in love with the first two books and sat down with Warner Bros saying how obsessed he was with making the Philosopher's Stone more than anything else. Columbus asked to be the last director Warner Bros saw which took about ten days. Columbus stayed up until 3am rewriting the script each day. It was already a good script but Columbus wanted to talk about the visuals. He told Warner Bros he had rewritten the script for free and that made an impression on them. Because Columbus had done that without any pressure from them, it made the difference and after subsequent meetings and five weeks later, he got the job of directing.
Considered directing Spider-Man (2002), however passed that up to direct Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001).

I was up on 140th Street in Harlem, in 1992. It was 3 in the morning, and I was walking back to get a cup of coffee. These two young kids came up to me and said to me, "What movie is this?" I said, "Home Alone 2," and they said, "What do you do?" And I said, "I'm the director." They said, "Oh, you're John Hughes!"
I can understand the validity of showing people the ugliness of the world, but I also think there is a place for movies to leave people with a sense of hope. If your film isn't going to do that, I just don't think it's worth making.
[Macaulay Culkin] An incredibly charming kid.
[Robin Williams doing standup] I was just blown away at his energy. One of the most brilliant minds I have ever come across in terms of comedy. This ball of fire on stage. It was really impressive.
Becoming a writer and having films made is probably the best way to become a director.