Screenwriting Quotes

60 Screenwriting quotes by 57 unique authors

I've quit writing screenplay [adaptations]. It's too much work. I don't look at writing a novel as work, because I only have to please myself.… — Elmore Leonard
I usually write very few stage directions. I think a lot of that is a waste of time. The art of screenwriting is in its… — Scott Frank
For me, screenwriting is all about setting characters in motion and as a writer just chasing them. They should tell you what they’ll do in… — Justin Zackham
I guess I considered myself just sort of a sketch comedian, you know? Actual screenwriting hadn't really occurred to me as a viable job -… — Thomas Lennon
Whatever you do in terms of telling a story, the most important thing that you can define is who you are. — John Patrick Shanley
Working at Pixar has been like my graduate school for screenwriting. — Michael Arndt
I think, in a weird way, the reason I was drawn to screenwriting and the reason I really love doing it is because I love… — David Benioff
Audiences are harder to please if you're just giving them effects, but they're easy to please if it's a good story. — Steven Spielberg
I have always credited the writer of the original material above the title: Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Bram Stoker's Dracula, or John Grisham's The Rainmaker.… — Francis Ford Coppola
There is no point in having sharp images when you've fuzzy ideas. — Jean-Luc Godard
Once you crack the script, everything else follows. — Ridley Scott
[Making movies is] 80% script and 20% getting great actors. There's nothing else to it. — William Wyler
Give me a good script, and I'll be a hundred times better as a director. — George Cukor
If you put someone in a room with no script to direct, they're just going to sit there. Writing scripts is the execution for a… — John Patrick Shanley
The script, I always believe, is the foundation of everything. — Ewan McGregor
It's always the story that interests me. — Vincente Minnelli
I'm first and foremost interested in the story, the characters. — David Lean
Everything starts with writing. And then to support your vision, your ideas, your philosophy, your jokes, whatever, you've gotta perform them and/or direct them, or… — Mel Brooks
I feel I do my best work when it's all there on the page, and I feel that the character is very vivid as I… — Guy Pearce
If the script's good, everything you need is in there. I just try and feel it, and do it honestly. — Olivia Colman
I find playwriting to be incredibly difficult compared to screenwriting. Part of it is that I grew up watching movies and not watching plays. — Zoe Kazan
I tend to jot down moments, lines, interactions that don't really make any sense. I try and explain these scattered notes to my close friends,… — Asghar Farhadi
I think if I've worked anything through with screenwriting it's that I'm not going to be able to work anything through. — Charlie Kaufman
I don't think screenwriting is therapeutic. It's actually really, really hard for me. It's not an enjoyable process. — Charlie Kaufman
Screenwriting is the most prized of all the cinematic arts. Actually, it isn't, but it should be. — Hugh Laurie

Who Wrote These Screenwriting Quotes

57 authors contributed a total of 60 Screenwriting Quotes, led by these top contributors: