Whit Stillman Quotes

I wrote 'All is Lost' while editing 'Margin Call'. I did that long before I knew if I was ever going to get to make another movie.

I think it's always good for the author to stay a good cattle prod's distance from the actual moviemaking.

I want to make my own films from my own scripts based on stories I want to tell, but they take time to put together.

I want to get into producing and writing more for myself - setting up my own films and seeing what kind of personal touch I can put on movies, as opposed to just being in them.

There's one great script that hit my desk that I didn't change at all, and that was True Romance.

I'm not put off so much by first-time directors if the script is great. If the script isn't there, I'm not there.

I take time to write my script, if I have more scripts, I will make more movies.

I'd been acting since I was a teenager. I'd come to the point where I was writing my own movies of the week for TV. That was fun.

It's a debilitating process, working with the studios. With the length of time it takes for drafts and development deals, your enthusiasm is gone before you're ready to make the film.

It seems so cliched and obvious, but write the movie you want to see in the theater.

Everyone in Hollywood has a screenplay.

Having gotten TV shows on the air, that's so much less work that trying to get the 'Veronica Mars' movie made.

Making a movie like 'Felony' is hard work because you're really putting your own ideas on the screen. You can't hide behind some other person's script; you're saying, 'This is my brain, and I want you to know what I think'.'

I think there's a lot of interesting stuff on TV. I feel much more optimistic about TV than I do about movies. There will always be good movies but I think, for the most part, it's always going to be a huge fight to get those movies made. TV is the best place to be as a writer, I think.

Getting your screenplay right is the most important thing you'll ever do on your film.

I think if you get your fifth script made, that's the fast track. But there's no guarantee any of them will get made.

I think the script is the key. Regardless of how great everybody else is working on a film, if you're working on a script that you don't think is great, you're not gonna be able to make a great film. Whereas if the script is great, then you can.

I remember when I first started, the first movie I wrote that didn't get made I was aghast. 'Wait a minute, that's not how this is supposed to work. You write a move and it gets made!'

As far as I'm concerned, I make movies.

Because television doesn't offer the kind of budget that a movie offers, you've got to be a little more careful where you spend the money to put the fiction in science.

I'm still auditioning and doing other movie parts, but I really like the developing and the writing. You have more control over your destiny.

I like to make movies I like to watch.

I consider my job as a screenwriter to pack a script with possibilities and ideas - to create a feast for the filmmaker to pick from.

Believe it or not, there are some things that I have written that would be kind of a dream to make. Hopefully, I will get to finance them... There is something that I wrote called 'Demon's Flare' which would kind of be a dream come true.

After leaving ImageMovers, I sold two pitches to Fox Atomic, which I then wrote for them.