10 Screenwriters on Screenwriting: Vol. 10

Professional screenwriters reflect on the craft.

11 Aug 2017 • 1 min read

Professional screenwriters reflect on the craft.

“There’s a magic to being present when you’re writing a character. Just spit it out, then go back and edit it later.”

— Reid Carolin

“It’s the words, it always gets back to the words…”

— Julius Epstein

“Roger Corman taught me you could make a movie about anything as long as it had a hook to hang the advertising on.”

— Amy Holden Jones

“I don’t think writing is as much an act as a way of being. It’s the living and thinking that makes the writing.”

— Sean Hartofilis

“Don’t write what they want, they don’t know what they want, just make it GOOD.”

— Nora Ephron

“To make a great film, you need three things — the script, the script and the script.”

— Alfred Hitchcock

“If you’ve got craft, you got game. If you’ve got game, you can write your way in and out of anything.”

— Robert Mark Kamen

“A lot of writers try to get approval and love way too early. Get the script right first.”

— Allison Burnett

“The question to ask about a new story idea: Can you really see it opening at a theater next weekend?”

— John Swetnam

“The writing period is the same: 5 pages a day, 7 days a week. Nothing magical. You just sit there and keep typing.”

— Stirling Silliphant

To read 50 Things About Screenwriting, go here.

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