10 Screenwriters on Screenwriting: Vol. 2

Professional screenwriters reflect on the craft.

“I have learned the first rule of screenwriting is having no rules. Everyone has to find their own way of doing things.”

— Guillermo Arriaga

“Eighty percent of a motion picture is writing, the other twenty percent is the execution.”

— Billy Wilder

“If you’re not prepared to be rejected, don’t try to write films.”

— Peter Hyams

“The single most important question one must ask oneself about a character is what are they really afraid of.”

— Robert Towne

“Each scene must be a drama in itself. The whole picture must be made up of a series of small dramas.”

— Jeanie Macpherson

“Plot does not drive characters. Characters drive plot. Characters want, need, feel, act, react. This creates plot.”

— Chuck Wendig

“Screenplays don’t have to read like an instruction manual for a refrigerator. You can write them as a pleasurable read.”

— William Goldman

“If you’re inviting people into a story, invite them into all parts of it. Inhabit each character as fully as possible.”

— Nikole Beckwith

“Every five to ten pages, I want a big fist to come out of the screenplay and punch the reader in the gut.”

— Allan Durand

“If I have anything to say to young writers, it’s stop thinking of writing as art. Think of it as work.”

— Paddy Chayefsky

10 Screenwriters on Screenwriting: Vol. 1

To read 50 Things About Screenwriting, go here.