1. “There is only one plot-things are not what they seem.”
– Jim Thompson
2. “Everything I’ve written is personal- it’s the only way I know how to write.”
– Charlie Kaufman
3. “I could be just a writer very easily. I am not a writer. I am a screenwriter, which is half a filmmaker….But it is not an art form, because screenplays are not works of art. They are invitations to others to collaborate on a work of art.”
– Paul Schrader
4. “When I was sixteen or seventeen, I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to be a playwright But everything I wrote, I thought was weak. and I can remember falling asleep in tears because I had no talent the way I wanted to have.”
– Francis Ford Coppola
5. “Being a good writer is 3% talent, 97% not being distracted by the internet.”
– Unknown
6. “I love fantasy. I love horror. I love musicals. Whatever doesn’t happen in real life is what I’m interested in. as a way of commenting on everything that does happen in life, because ultimately the only thing I’m really interested is people.”
– Joss Whedon
7. “We’ve all been burned by bad feedback. Rude, insensitive, bossy, arrogant, wrong-headed, cruel even.”
– Julie Gray
8. “The screenplay is the child not only of its mother, the silent film, but also of its father, the drama.”
– Terrence Rattigan
9. “Screenwriting is an opportunity to fly first class, be treated like a celebrity, sit around the pool and be betrayed.”
– Ian McEwan
10. “I don’t think screenplay writing is the same as writing- I mean, I think it’s blue printing.”
– Robert Altman
11. “Writing is a marathon, not a sprint.”
– Robert McKee
12. “One of the big things you have learn is who to listen and when; and you can’t listen to everybody.”
– Amy Holden Jones
13. Scriptwriting is the toughest part of the whole racket…the least understood and the least noticed.”
-Frank Capra
14. “It is better to write a bad first draft than to write no first draft at all.”
– Will Shetterly
15. “But George and Steven asked me to write the Indiana Jones sequels, and I didn’t want to.”
– Lawrence Kasdan
16. “The most ordinary word, when put into place, suddenly acquires brilliance. That is the brilliance with which your images must shine.”
– Robert Bresson
17. “Screenwriting is the most prized of all the cinematic arts. actually, it isn’t, but it should be.”
– Hugh Laurie
18. “People are going to laugh at your attempt to write a really romantic scene. So what can you do to protect yourself? You can shock people…”
– Andrew Kevin Walker
19. “Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else’s.”
– Billy Wilder
20. “The easiest thing to do on earth is not to write.”
– William Goldman
21. “I think about the audience in the sense that I serve as my own audience. I have to please myself that way, if I saw the movie in theatre, I would be pleased. Do I think about catering to an audience? No.”
– Shane Black
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