“Well, it’s sort of like being led by the nose by the process as opposed to having any particular control over it. As ideas occur to me over a period of time, I’ll write down little bits and snippets for scenes and pieces of dialog — ideas for a character, interesting little anecdotes, things that amuse me, whatever — and throw them all in a shoe box.”
– Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, The Long Kiss Goodnight)
I like to do that too. I have a file for sayings, cool character names, whatever.
i had the privilege of hearing shane black talk at the austin film festival. the guy is really inspiring. he comes across as super passionate about great screenwriting and, more generally, great movie making.