Winnie Holzman Quotes

As an actor, you create a character from your understanding of what you have heard and your observations. Eventually, every film is an extension of the images that I have seen or what I have heard or read somewhere.

Everything I learned as an actor, I have basically applied to writing.

I think being an actor makes me a better writer and vice versa. I know the kinds of roles I would kill to play, and I try to create them for others.

The most fun part for an actor is the writing and the story and the character. That's very fulfilling.

Actors can be good, say all these beautiful, wonderful things - but where does it come from? It comes from the writers, and people kind of forget that sometimes.

As far as the creative side, the more I do this, the more I know that it's all about the writing. We don't always celebrate that enough, but without the writing, you can't do much. You got on a film sometimes, and it's sort of half-written, and they expect and think that the actor's job is to bring the extra part and the good part. It's not.

To be honest, I have never thought about the intricacies of a script.

I do not use any set methods, not even The Method. The character after all is in the lines.

It's fun to improvise, but I still think it's better to have a great script, you know, like a Charlie Kaufman script.

I try to research or make up for myself what happened in any character's life. From when he was born until the first page of the script. I fill in the blanks.

Creating a role is an interesting thing - each show or each situation is different.

With a film, I do my best to understand the author's intentions and try to bring the characters to life.

Every role is challenging in its own way, but the most challenging roles are the ones that are badly written - then it's completely up to you to come up with something that is interesting to the story and myself as an actor.

Part of an actor's job is to draw up a back story.

I believe that acting in any medium is the same thing, it's discovering the truth in where you are.

'A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints' was the first real actor-actor part I did, and I hope to do more. Action movies are fun, but I'd be happy not to do them if there are better roles.

To try to create a character without a whole lot of information can be taxing. At the same time, it's fun to just stay on your toes and let the next bit of dialogue come in, and turn the page as you read the next script and see what they have in store for you next.

In every film, whether it's a fictional character or not, you create an idea of the character and for me I always do a bad impersonation to start with.

Pretty much everything that I pick, when it comes to choosing roles, is just based on things and materials that grabs me. It's pretty much the subject matter that I gravitate towards.

For me the rehearsal period is the part I most enjoy. It's the creating of the story.

Once you see the entertainment world from both sides, you really get a greater understanding of how it all operates. As an actor going into screenwriting, I was able to understand what type of dialogue feels natural and what an actor could actually say.

I learned so much by being an actor, and part of my sort-of development as a writer is big thanks to the scripts I read in my acting life.

The script, I always believe, is the foundation of everything. And if you don't connect to that foundation, if you don't believe in that and feel that you wanna spend three, four months of your life exploring it, then all of the other elements are secondary.

For me, I look at a pilot and go, 'I see the landscape. I see the characters. I see the direction and the potential of the story.' And I also go, 'That didn't work. I could change that. Maybe that works. I don't know. We'll see.' For me, I look at it, as an actor, as what can I improve upon?

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.