Here are a few interesting quotes from famous screenwriters. I’m sure a lot of you go through the same experiences and feelings in their screenwriter’s life…My favorites are number 3, 5 and number 7, which is exactly the way I do when writing a new screenplay.
1.WESLEY STRICK:(Cape Fear, Wolf, True Believers, Arachnophobia)
I have two tricks. One is that I write every day, regardless of
whether I want to or not because as I just said, in a way I never want to write.
It's not even an issue. I just write four pages a day when I'm working. I have a quota.
A sub-set of that system is that I am a firm believer that bad ideas lead to good ones.
When I am not inspired and I don't know the solution I will just type out the most banal
solution and know that at least it's on the page and it gets me to the next story beat.
2. JIM HART:( Hook, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein)
There is a real big gap between what a writer wants to do and what the studio wants them to do.
3. TOM SCHULMAN:(Dead Poets Society)
I had to be my own best salesman. I had to know
everything that was going on in Hollywood, who might
or might not be interested in my piece, and guide my agent in those directions, even if he disagreed.
4. AMY HOLDEN JONES:(Indecent Proposal, Mystic Pizza)
Roger Corman taught me a very valuable lesson.
He said you could make a movie about just about anything
as long as it had a hook to hang the advertising on.
5. JIM HART:( Hook, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein)
I learned a great lesson from Coppola on "Dracula" Francis gave me a
great insight as to when you are dealing with studio executives and the studios' needs.
You agree with everything they say then you go off and do whatever you want to.
6. LAWRENCE KONNER:(Jewel Of The Nile, Star Trek VI, Beverly Hillbillies) A character's dreams are most important because I think almost always what their dreams are will help you motivate the story. It's something they want.
7. WESLEY STRICK:(Cape Fear, Wolf, True Believers, Arachnophobia)
I find that when I am working I become like an antenna and suddenly, somewhat
like a paranoid-schizophrenic, everything relates to my screenplay: a mentioned recipe,
a joke somebody tells, a billboard that I see. It all becomes grist for what ever screenplay I'm working on.
8.JIM HART:( Hook, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein) I think too many
screenwriters try to be commercial as opposed to being accessible. Find that material which
speaks to you and has a certain truth. Forget about whether it's commercial. "Dracula"
took me 15 years. "Hook" took me 10 years.
9. ERIC ROTH:( Forrest Gump, Mr. Jones)I think part of being a good screenwriter is being as concise as possible.
10. LAWRENCE KONNER:(Jewel Of The Nile, Star Trek VI, Beverly Hillbillies)Robert Towne
has made the comment, and I agree with him, " An audience will forgive a lot at the beginning
but very little at the end." If the story is constructed properly, then the ending should be inevitable, but not predictable.
11.TOM SCHULMAN:(Dead Poets Society) For me the challenge is always to look inside myself and find what's really behind what I'm working on.
