Screenwriting Quotes Quotes

“Screenwriting is like poker; in the end, you have to go all in.”
― Adrienne Posey

“There is magic in the old and magic in the new. The trick is to successfully combine the two.”
― Adrienne Posey

“Coffee and screenwriting go hand in hand.”
― Adrienne Posey

“I love screenwriting. It's simple and mathematical, yet it has the beauty of science and chemistry, the wonder of mystery, and the love of a wild heart.”
― Adrienne Posey

“Screenwriting is made of brevity.”
― Adrienne Posey

“Story determines structure; structure doesn't determine story.”
― Syd Field, Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting

“I'm searching for my unbridled optimism again. It appears to be lost under a pile of laundry.”
― Dawn Garcia

“

Don Simpson was right about Robert Altman.
Screenwriter, Ring Lardner wrote M*A*S*H (1970) and director Altman praised his script in early interviews.
After the movie was a hit, Altman said that he had tossed out Lardner’s script and written it himself.
The movie’s producer, George Litto, said, “Bob was never one to acknowledge a writer’s contribution. The movie was ninety percent Ring Lardner’s script, but Bob started saying he improvised the movie. I said,* ‘Bob, Ring Lardner gave you the best opportunity you had in your whole life. Ring was blacklisted for years. What you’re doing is very unfair to him and you ought to stop it.’

”
― Joe Eszterhas, The Devil's Guide to Hollywood: The Screenwriter as God!

“Mel Brooks never even acknowledged my father during Blazing Saddles (1974) initial theatrical run; It wasn’t until the 1978 re-release, the West Coast Writers’ Guild ordered Warner Brothers to re-print the film with Richard Pryor’s name amended to the opening credits sequence (and marketing materials); After Brooks “accidentally” omitted his “Screenplay by” credit. Whenever Brooks was asked about my dad’s potential lead role in the film, the actor/director would insist he really wanted Richard Pryor in the picture but the studio forbade him. But my father still had a record contract with Warner Brothers and his comedy albums were still making money for them, that’s why they reached out to him, letting him know that decision wasn’t theirs. Blazing Saddles was actually the last picture, in a three-picture deal, Brooks had with the studio and he desperately needed it to be a box-office hit (after his first two pictures were financial losers), moreover, he believed Blazing Saddles needed to be an original “Mel Brooks” comedic hit. It was the first real showbiz betrayal my father endured while in the entertainment industry, some colleagues and close friends believed it was actually the worst, and he never really got over it.”
― Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor, Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me