“I think new writers are too worried it has all been said before. Sure it has, but not by you.”
“To make a great film, you need three things — the script, the script, and the script.”
“Ensure that your script is watertight. If it’s not on the page, it will never magically appear on the screen.”
“A culture cannot evolve without storytelling. When a society repeatedly experiences glossy, hollowed-out, pseudo-stories, it degenerates. We need true satires and tragedies, dramas and comedies that shine a clean light into the dingy corners of the human psyche and society.”
“Don’t give up. You’re going to get kicked in the teeth. A lot. Learn to take a hit, then pick yourself up off the floor. Resilience is the true key to success.”
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far it is possible to go.”
“You may not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”
“Screenwriting is like ironing. You move forward a little bit and go back and smooth things out.”
“If you put someone in a room with no script to direct, they’re just going to sit there. Writing scripts is the execution for a show. Then the director takes that and hires people. It’s like trying to build a house without any bricks. You need a great script.”
“Don’t get it right. Get it written.”
“The best way to get an agent? Write a good script. If your first one isn’t good enough, make it better. If it still isn’t good enough, write a new one. Once you write a good script, the rest will work itself out.”
“Good dialogue illuminates what people are not saying.”
“Audiences are harder to please if you’re just giving them effects, but they’re easy to please if it’s a good story.”
“A screenwriter’s currency is a finished script. Not an outline, a take, a beat sheet, a rough draft. A finished script.”
“Start writing, no matter what. The water doesn’t flow until the faucet is turned on.”
“Don’t lose faith in what you are trying to do, even though you will get pummeled emotionally left and right. There are a lot of NOs to any YES. And that’s OK.”
“The challenge of screenwriting is to say much in little and then take half of that little out and still preserve an effect of leisure and natural movement.”
“Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark places where it leads.”
“Screenwriting is the most prized of all the cinematic arts. Actually, it isn’t, but it should be.”
“A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t give up.”
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Happy Writing!
