Top 100 Quotes About Screenplay
#1. CUT!
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Cut...
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FUCKING CUT IT!
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Where is the fucking screenplay?
Deyth Banger
#2. Because I write the screenplay entirely and precisely, there is the danger that an actor might feel that this finite role is being imposed on them. I want the actors to feel that this is their own role, and that they can go back to point zero and develop this character.
Asghar Farhadi
#3. In LA, it's the law that you must be engaged in writing a screenplay with your hairdresser, pool boy, personal trainer, life coach, dog walker, or yoga instructor.
Mimi Pond
#4. Just read this fabulous screenplay. A remake of Camus's The Stranger with Meursault as a bi break-dancing punk rocker. Randy showed it to me. I loved it. Randy thinks "basically unfilmable" and that filming an orange rolling around a parking lot for three hours would draw a bigger audience.
Bret Easton Ellis
#5. 'Rent' was a special project for me. It was my first notable screenplay job. I worked with two wonderful directors on it, starting with Spike Lee in the summer of 2001. I wrote a draft for Spike and he was really good to me.
Stephen Chbosky
#6. You use simple brushstrokes in a screenplay for things over which you would take much greater pains in a novel.
Richard Russo
#7. The brain needs to have a story; it needs to have a logical screenplay telling where we're coming from and what we're going to.
Miguel Nicolelis
#8. After I sold my screenplay adaptation of 'Rain Fall' to Sony Pictures, I had no more creative involvement.
Barry Eisler
#9. I loved the tone and the characters. They're all very different and they're all very typical for their time. When you read the screenplay you feel like meeting them and getting them off the page and on to the screen.
Lone Scherfig
#10. Those writers that have zero say in their movie adaptations have zero say because they sell it. If you don't sell it, and you do it yourself, and you wait until the screenplay is ready, you don't have to worry about that.
Stephen Chbosky
#11. Once I started writing the screenplay of 'Bride & Prejudice,' I was convinced Jane Austen was a Punjabi in her previous birth.
Gurinder Chadha
#12. If you're trying to drop ten pages from a screenplay, it hurts like hell, but if you just put it away for a month and then take it out, you can do it just like that!
Quentin Tarantino
#13. You always have three movies that you have to reduce into one. You have the screenplay. And then, you do a workshop and you add more scenes. And then, on the day you shoot, there's more action and interaction. It's like a souffle. It has a tendency to just grow and explode, and it's just too long.
Louis Leterrier
#14. All drama is conflict. Without conflict, there is no action. Without action, there is no character. Without character, there is no story. And without story, there is no screenplay.
Syd Field
#15. I've been a professional athlete, I've directed films, I've run a company with 150 employees, and nothing compares to writing a screenplay. Just the second I think I know what I'm doing, the rug gets pulled out and I have no idea what I'm doing. Because there are so many problems to solve.
Stacy Peralta
#16. Jerry picked up the technique of visualizing the story as a movie scenario; and whenever he gave me a script, I would see it as a screenplay. That was the technique that Jerry used, and I just picked it up.
Joe Shuster
#17. The fundamental difficulty that most novelists face when they are trying to adapt their own book into a screenplay is realizing that a screenplay is a completely different way of storytelling, and it has limitations.
Barry Eisler
#18. To be honest, I don't usually do very much research, especially if I'm working with a director who also wrote the screenplay. They've usually done a tonne of research. And they'll tell you about it from their perspective which is better than doing your own research ...
Christina Ricci
#19. In order to avoid sentimentality and to be able to write the screenplay with the kind of humor and irony necessary to keep the story moving, I needed to distance myself as much as I could from the characters, to try to get to a point where I could view them objectively.
Hirokazu Koreeda
#20. Directing was easy for me because I was a writer director and did all my directing when I wrote the screenplay.
Preston Sturges
#21. Most of screenplay writing is deciding which voices you want to listen to and take on board.
Abi Morgan
#22. There is no screenplay-writing recipe that guarantees your cake will rise.
Robert McKee
#23. Whatever you want to do in the industry, do it on the smallest level at first. If you want to be a writer, write a screenplay in your house. If you want to be an actor, put on a one-man show. If you want to be a stand-up comedian, go to an open mic.
Ike Barinholtz
#24. I would love to write a screenplay for 'Badlands' one day. I don't think I could ever have the patience to do it; I don't even have the patience to write songs. I write some of the shortest songs ever because I don't have the patience.
Halsey
#25. Your life is a screenplay, you must be the author; direct and make it a success.
Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha
#26. I look at the film without any music or sound. I try to grasp the story from the screenplay. I try to write to the novel or book if there is one. I try to create music that's honest and true to my heart for the story.
Howard Shore
#27. When there wasn't a lot of work, I wrote a screenplay, 'What Lies Beneath,' which got noticed and got me more acting jobs. As I got more jobs, I was able to make my own films. That ethos of making my own work has provided me with a lot of opportunities.
Clark Gregg
#28. I simply asked if I could have a go at adapting a screenplay. But I did not want any money, in case I failed because I did not want a script out there with my name on it that might be completely dysfunctional.
Ben Affleck
#29. 'Diary of a Teenage Girl' was my first American movie. It was my first movie in an American accent. It's based on a graphic novel, which was written in 2002 by someone called Phoebe Gloeckner. It was turned into a play by Marielle Heller, who then wrote it as a screenplay for Sundance Labs.
Bel Powley
#30. Screenplay is the toughest form of writing for me, because you need to be in present tense. You need to be describing things as they occur.
Guillermo Del Toro
#31. I don't write [screenplay character] biographies beforehand. I usually go in knowing some sequences: this is where I want to start, this is where I want to end.
John Sayles
#32. I'm currently writing a screenplay that I haven't started yet.
Serena Williams
#33. If you play it straight it's funny - the best comedy is always played straight down the middle. The adjustment is understanding from the screenplay that a moment is hilarious.
Tom Hiddleston
#34. For 'So Cold the River,' I'm actually working on adapting the book with Scott Silver, who was just nominated for an Oscar for 'The Fighter,' and who also wrote '8 Mile,' which I think is a terrific screenplay. The chance to work with Scott is a tremendous pleasure and I'm learning a lot.
Michael Koryta
#35. I did all my directing when I wrote the screenplay. It was probably harder for a regular director. He probably had to read the script the night before shooting started.
Preston Sturges
#36. We mystify the art of moviemaking, but it's not amystical science. You take a good screenplay, put a group togetherand you hammer it out.
Bill Paxton
#37. Whether I'm in front of the camera, behind the camera, at my computer writing a novel or a screenplay, as long as I get to entertain someone out there, I'm happy.
Chris Colfer
#38. In a novel, language is your principal tool, you try to build pictures in the mind of the reader. When you write a screenplay, the language is just a transition, the final goal is a picture on the screen, it's the only thing the audience sees.
Philippe Claudel
#39. Getting your screenplay right is the most important thing you'll ever do on your film.
Yahoo Serious
#40. After university, I went into film. I started out making tea, managed a brief stint as an assistant director, then found myself writing a screenplay. In the end, I wrote quite a few - but by January 2006, I wanted out.
Nick Harkaway
#41. If you're writing a screenplay from scratch, it involves a lot of creation.
Philippe Falardeau
#42. Everybody in L.A. has a screenplay. The guy pumping your gas has a screenplay.
Melanie Mayron
#43. The poem has to bear the weight with image, language ... the screenplay with dialogue, plot ...
Julianna Baggott
#44. The last person they expected to connect with a screenplay was the comedic, blonde actress with the funny voice.
Joey Lauren Adams
#45. What I found interesting writing a screenplay as opposed to writing a novel is not the obvious thing, which is having to pare everything down and find the kind of essence, the skeleton if you like, which can then be fleshed out by performance and cinematography.
Salman Rushdie
#46. When I write a screenplay - and I think this is true for a lot of people - you direct the movie. That's what writing a screenplay is.
John Patrick Shanley
#47. I present the nominees, well, not me the Voice of God, for Best Screenplay.
Emma Thompson
#48. The way you write a screenplay is that you close your eyes and run the movie in your head and then you write it down.
Salman Rushdie
#49. I don't care who you are. When you sit down to write the first page of your screenplay, in your head, you're also writing your Oscar acceptance speech.
Nora Ephron
#50. My tombstone would someday read I died keeled over at my computer writing a screenplay or a business plan.
Gabriel Campisi
#51. A movie is painting, it's photography, it's literature - because you have to have the screenplay - it's music. Put a different soundtrack to a comedy and it's a tragedy. A movie combines all those forms and forces you to pay attention for two hours with a group of people.
Paula Patton
#52. I had gone to the bookstore, and while I hadn't bought any books on how to write a screenplay, I'd bought a couple of scripts so I could see how the formatting works. I just needed to know how a Hollywood screenplay looked on the page, which was something I was totally unfamiliar with.
Diablo Cody
#53. A novel, of course, is a fully self-contained work of art. You pick it up off the shelf, open it, and there it is - a whole universe waiting for you to enter. A screenplay is just a blueprint for making a movie. Until the movie is actually filmed, the script really means nothing.
John Niven
#54. Revising a screenplay is much more frustrating than revising a song because you have to read through the entire work again while you are changing stuff. It is a lot easier to edit a song.
Kelly Jones
#55. For a novelist, no matter what, it's a complete work, even if it's not published. But if you write a screenplay, and it's not performed, then it's a sad and frustrating experience.
Susan Isaacs
#56. I love film and have taken a stab at a screenplay. I love writing dialogue and found it highly enjoyable.
Kaui Hart Hemmings
#57. I'm working on a screenplay right now for the BBC, but I hope to have the decks cleared soon so I can get into the studio with my pals and put down some more tracks, try to get a strong dance single together.
Irvine Welsh
#58. The day you step on the floor the meter is ticking and time is of the essence. You can't really afford to not know what you're doing. So I think the screenplay is a great tool to get everybody on the same page.
Robert Schwentke
#59. I don't begin a novel or a screenplay until I know the ending. And I don't mean only that I have to know what happens. I mean that I have to hear the actual sentences. I have to know what atmosphere the words convey.
John Irving
#60. The time it would take me to write a screenplay it would take me the time to make two films. I would rather make the movies, and I'm a better moviemaker than I would be writer.
Ridley Scott
#61. Never take no for an answer. It took me 20 years between the time I wrote my first screenplay and the time I actually got money to direct a movie.
Julie Delpy
#62. Usually, when special effects get in the way, it's because the story isn't strong enough. If you don't start with a strong screenplay, it's easy to fall back on special effects, thinking it's going to carry you. But it never works. It's just tiresome.
Ridley Scott
#63. Writing a screenplay is like writing a big puzzle, and so the hardest part, I think, is getting the story.
Grant Heslov
#64. The first comedy screenplay that I wrote was Animal House and I always thought I could and should be a director but no one was about to give me that opportunity on Animal House.
Harold Ramis
#65. I love making movies and hope to write my own screenplay someday and do some producing and be behind-the-scenes as well.
Victoria Justice
#66. David Mamet we all know is a great screenplay writer and playwright and a great director. If you like him, you like him. If you hate him, you really hate him. He's someone who's into controversy, you know what I mean? That's David Mamet.
Tom Hardy
#67. I want to release another CD this year, finish writing a screenplay, and make another short film.
Todd Barry
#68. They feel guilty for having survived so they pretend the bad things never happened
Exodus (1960) screenplay
Dalton Trumbo
#69. I like the varying rhythm of being a writer that you have a period of being in complete isolation where it's just you and the book and your screenplay and no-one can read it.
Patrick Marber
#70. I should probably bequeath the copyrights to my screenplay for Spies Like Us, just in case.
Nathan Hale
#71. So I have 8 to 10 screenplays written and unproduced. And frankly, some of them are my favorite stories. I have a Western version of The Count Of Monte Cristo where the count has a clockwork hand. I have a screenplay called Mephisto's Bridge about a Faustian deal with the devil. I love them all.
Guillermo Del Toro
#72. You sell a screenplay like you sell a car. If someone drives it off a cliff, that's it.
Rita Mae Brown
#73. I think longer that you sit on a screenplay the longer you sit. I'm a firm believer that you can write the magic out of a movie, out of a screenplay. I'm not saying that the first draft is always the best draft but a lot of times the magic is in the first couple of drafts. T
Todd Farmer
#74. Writing a screenplay is like climbing a mountain. When you're climbing, all you can see is the rock in front of you and the rock directly above you. You can't see where you've come from or where you're going.
Syd Field
#75. If you write a screenplay that gets circulated, you have a bigger readership than any literary novelist. And it's an educated audience as well.
William Monahan
#76. I'd like to be a better writer, but I have no dreams to direct or do a screenplay. And I'd love to have a big starring role in a movie because the paycheck would be bigger. That's the only reason I do films.
Henry Rollins
#77. I've never read a screenplay in advance. You trust the artist.
Beatrice Dalle
#78. Usually if you read a screenplay, no matter who's writing it, the bad guy is always written as a one-dimensional bad guy.
Mickey Rourke
#79. I was originally casted to be in the Superman movie but I read the script and realized that it was mysteriously similar to my screenplay for Zach Braff the Movie.
Zach Braff
#80. Writing is my number one passion. I've written two novels. I've written a screenplay. I also write short stories and poetry.
Evangeline Lilly
#81. I just trust the director and never overanalyse the script, screenplay, etc. You are just taking a bet at the end of the day, so confidence, be it on the filmmaker or the script, is all that counts.
Ravi Teja
#82. If I talk about Charles Dance I am talking about something else, something I operate and wind up and have to make an impression with and use to transmit someone else's screenplay.
Charles Dance
#83. I never thought I was capable of writing a whole book until Ursula K. Le Guin, with whom I worked briefly in publishing, said, 'you already wrote one (referencing a screenplay), you just need to add the details.
E.L. Sayers
#84. What's great about writing a screenplay is that the subtext of the scene, what is not said, can sometimes be more important that what is said. Again, dialogue serves two basic functions in the scene: Either it moves the story forward or it reveals information about the character.
Syd Field
#85. It's much like writing a screenplay with someone else and that's how we view it, I think.
Christopher Darden
#86. To me, the screenplay only becomes the Bible of the film after the actors have been cast. You go over the initial script with them and listen to the way they talk. Then you try to do a rewrite to accommodate them.
Dito Montiel
#87. I don't think I write differently when I'm writing a screenplay, as opposed to a stage play or a teleplay. Maybe if I were in a film class and there was time to think about it, we could point out differences.
Aaron Sorkin
#88. I don't want to write any more screenplays, I'll tell you that right now. It's a waste of time. You've got too many people who think they have the answer to a good screenplay and they don't. No one knows.
Elmore Leonard
#89. In some ways, a novel isn't as structurally rigorous as a screenplay or a TV show, which have finite real estate. In a novel, you can more deeply illuminate a character's interior and get away with digressions.
Howard Gordon
#90. I don't take trouble at all to conform a screenplay to my iconography. I don't say, "We can't do that - the audience wouldn't accept it." I try to take the limitations of what is required to play a leading character and then screw with them.
Harrison Ford
#91. Anyone living in Los Angeles who has opposable thumbs is required to write a screenplay.
James Scott Bell
#92. Really, when I write a book I'm the only one I have to please. That's the beauty of writing a book instead of a screenplay.
Elmore Leonard
#93. As I get older it gets harder and harder to hold on to the ephemeral excitement. When a documentary, or a screenplay, or even just a brainstorming session is going well I get to experience sense of hope, and expansiveness, even if it's just for a moment.
Andrew Neel
#94. If you have a good story idea, don't assume it must form a prose narrative. It may work better as a play, a screenplay or a poem. Be flexible.
Hilary Mantel
#95. The problem with the screenplay is that it's not literature, and it's not a film. It's a very weird, technical kind of blueprint that will be absolutely transformed into something else that is not that, you know? Honestly, a screenplay is no literature.
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
#96. I always try and bring screenplay, shooting and editing into a sort of symbiotic - as close into alignment as you possibly can get them, consistent, obviously, with the resources that you've got and the time you've got available.
Paul Greengrass
#98. Acting is fun and I refuse to get involved in the semantics and the politics of strategy and breaking out of something or doing something because you need to do something else. For me it's all about what fuels my soul and if I'm passionate about a screenplay then that's what I'll do next.
Shailene Woodley
#99. I've wanted to make a film about French youth since I went to Cannes with my first film 'Kids' in 1995 ... Scribe's screenplay is about French kids today, and the world today. Just like my films 'Kids' and 'Ken Park', this will be a movie like you have never seen before.
Larry Clark
#100. If you have a good script, that's what gets you involved. It's harder to write a good screenplay than to find something.
Bill Murray
