Robin Williams Quotes

The problems I have with a flawed script are always revealed in the editing room.

It doesn't help anybody to put out a bad script.

I find that when you read a script, or rewrite something, or look at something that's been gone over, you can tell, like rings on a tree, by how bad it is, how long it's been in development.

You can't fix a bad script after you start shooting. The problems on the page only get bigger as they move to the big screen.

India needs better producers than screenwriters. No producer wants to invest in out-of-the way scripts.

I love it when actors come to you with a problem and you have to listen. You'd like them to just get on with it, but it often means that there's a problem with the script.

When you have a good script you're almost in more trouble than when you have a terrible script.

I can say yes to some directors without even reading a script. But the first-time directors I've worked with, the scripts have not been perfect, but they had something that I liked.

When you start out as an actor, you read a script thinking of it at its best. But that's not usually the case in general, and usually what you have to do is you have to read a script and think of it at its worst. You read it going, "OK, how bad could this be?" first and foremost. You cannot make a good film out of a bad script. You can make a bad film out of a good script, but you can't make a good film out of a bad script.

It's very hard to get a movie made. You could spend your life reading scripts that never got made.

Most scripts are bad. I read a lot of them.

I don't think any actor has the luxury of knowing exactly what scripts are going to turn out well and what ones aren't. It would be wonderful to have that particular skill, and maybe people like Tom Cruise have it more than most, but you go into each project hoping that a good, if not great, film will come out the other end.

I think a good script is a rare thing, and I think no matter who you are you have to fight for the good ones.

You can have a great character in a really bad script, and the film will never be seen. It's just too much work to commit to a film and not have it released.

Well, the studios don't really want to take those risks right off the bat. They'll take the risk after they've seen the finished product and say oh yeah we want that. This is a great film but they are hesitant to take the risk when you just see it on paper.

I think that whenever there's a good script we try to make that happen, but it's all based off of a good story, a good script, but I don't believe you should do it just because it's African-American.

It often takes a couple of years to get a script right and then takes a couple of years to get financing together.

You know, making a movie is a collaborative effort and sometimes all the ingredients don't work out. I know that every now and again I am going to make a movie that won't work.

Most of the scripts that land on my desk are stuff you read and go, 'Is someone really gonna make this?'

It's hard. It's hard to get a film made properly.

When you get scripts and you really enjoy reading them, you know it's a good project.

You have to constantly work on your script if it needs it. You don't accept, 'Oh, I did a draft and...' No, it's your responsibility to work on the script as much as possible and make it better and better.

I tend to look for a great script.

Great writing attracts great actors. It attracts money. Without a great script, you have nothing.

I wake up to an email from the writers with the new script, and I always get so excited because I know it'll be better all-around than the script from the week before.