Steven Knight Quotes

[Macon Blair] wrote a beautiful - once it was kicking off and we were gonna make the movie - he sent me this really beautiful document on Tony [from "I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore" ]. It was like ruminations. "Maybe this ... I don't know ..." And I loved it.

What I did was I completed the half-hour film, but before really showing it, I wrote two more sections for a potential feature film which I didn't think would really happen, but at least I had it in case.

I have stories that I'd like to maybe one day consider directing, but you need a lot of time to write and put it together.

I enjoy the details. I enjoy coming up with ideas for improving the script, changing scenes and deciding what locations and wardrobe should be - the process of making a film.

The few times I've tried to write original screenplays, it's a difficult process because I just don't feel like I know the characters the way I know them after the year or two it takes to write a novel.

Mr. Disney and his staff were constantly scouting for great stories to bring to life on film.

Some people say that they read the first 20 pages, and then decide if they want to do the film or not. But, I have to read the entire thing 'cause anything can change in a script.

Usually, I think, every film I've made has been a book, and I've always read it.

It's sort of one ongoing process where writing ends and directing starts.

The thing is, you never know with any movie how it's going to turn out. It's always a mystery - you'll do pages and pages of scenes that will never make it onto the screen.

I started out my career as a screenwriter and quickly discovered that adhering to a script isn't always the best way to make a film. You have to take into consideration the nuances of the characters and what the actors bring to their roles.

Since I began making movies, I've always looked for screenwriters instead of going through the long and painful process of writing.

If I were to write a book about the progress of getting to a third film, it would be a long one.

To make films, it always begins with two words: what and how. First of all, you have to find a story, or what are you going to tell? And you have to find a way to tell it visually.

I think it's always a challenge to adapt a beautiful literary work into a fresh and alive film.

A producer friend of mine from film school had read some of my early screenplays - some experiments I had done to see how fast I could write something.

I always thought the writing process for movies and TV shows was just a blueprint. The making of it was the thing.

I remember walking into the editing room when I was a junior in college, and I watched the guy make cuts, and I didn't know what the hell was going on. He was just putting these shots together and telling the story, and it was amazing.

I definitely storyboard, but I only start once I have cast and location. I like to find the world first.

It took me a year just to edit 'Shotgun Stories.' Actually, it took me two years to edit 'Shotgun Stories.'

You come up with a story line, you hire the writer, the director, the stars, the set designer.

In writing scripts now, having made a film, I'm much more conscious of what it means to shoot and edit a movie, and that affects the writing.

I remember Emilio [Estevez] and I were at John's house during the rehearsal process. And John [Huges] had mentioned he wrote the first draft of Breakfast Club in a weekend. And we both at the same time went, "First draft? How many do you have?" And John said he's got four other drafts. And we go, "Can we read them?" And for the next three hours, Emilio and I read those other four drafts.

I had the luxury of working on the script with Andrew [Dominik] for a good year before the film started, so I was already intimate with the story [of The Assassination of Jesse James] and felt quite prepared walking into it.

There have been innumerable films about film-making, but Otto e Mezzo was a film about the processes of thinking about making a film -- certainly the most enjoyable part of any cinema creation.