Screenwriting Quotes

All drama is conflict. Without conflict, there is no action. Without action, there is no character. Without character, there is no story.…

— Syd Field

I didnt write Snow White for any class, but I got bitten by the screenwriting bug and wrote a couple of scripts…

— Evan Daugherty

“The answer to the question, 'where's the drama?' is another question: 'what's the problem?”

— Billy Marshall Stoneking

I often attribute my screenwriting to journalism because they drill in the who, what, when, where and why - but we really…

— Mara Brock Akil

If a story doesn't give you a hard-on in the first couple of scenes, throw it in the goddamned garbage.

— Samuel Fuller

All these teachers and [screenwriting] books mean you see movies that have been worked over by more committees wielding more rules, that…

— Paul Schrader

Writing a novel can be solitary at times compared to screenwriting, but I don't mind that.

— Ruth Jones

I wanted to do screenwriting. That's what I went to school for, but my major was overfilled, and when I got 'The…

— Jessica Williams

I tend to jot down moments, lines, interactions that don't really make any sense. I try and explain these scattered notes to…

— Asghar Farhadi

I studied screenwriting at film school and was constantly learning how to construct three-act dramas.

— Tobias Lindholm

If the script's good, everything you need is in there. I just try and feel it, and do it honestly.

— Olivia Colman

Once you see the entertainment world from both sides, you really get a greater understanding of how it all operates. As an…

— John Francis Daley

The history of screenwriting - of what we do - is more than 100 years old. It's thousands of years old, going…

— John Logan

And how deeply do I let business considerations affect [screenwriting] choices that might otherwise be more or less esthetic? . . .…

— Edward Zwick

I've taught both screenwriting and playwriting, and playwriting is both much harder and much more rewarding. One can teach people how to…

— David Ives

I have always credited the writer of the original material above the title: Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Bram Stoker's Dracula, or John…

— Francis Ford Coppola

I have a feeling the writers who find screenwriting difficult are usually just not lazy enough for the job. They don't know…

— Jonathan Raymond

“Collaborating on a film script involves two people sitting in a room separated by the silence of two minds working together.”

— Darlene Craviotto

It's possible for me to make a bad movie out of a good script, but I can't make a good movie from…

— George Clooney

Screenwriting is an opportunity to fly first class, be treated like a celebrity, sit around the pool and be betrayed.

— Ian Mcewan

I guess I considered myself just sort of a sketch comedian, you know? Actual screenwriting hadn't really occurred to me as a…

— Thomas Lennon

What I always studied in screenwriting from my mentor John Glavin was that the most interesting characters are characters with shades of…

— Mike Birbiglia

I don't think screenwriting is therapeutic. It's actually really, really hard for me. It's not an enjoyable process.

— Charlie Kaufman

Initially I only decided to try and write a novel because I wasn't getting enough screenwriting work. It wasn't a long-held ambition,…

— Stef Penney

“If the story you're telling, is the story you're telling, you're in deep shit.”

— Robert McKee