John Carpenter Quotes

I think comedy is the hardest actual form of writing there is.

One of the problems of writing is that anyone who commits themselves to that process has to believe that they're good.

I write small and weird. Romcoms are not in my skill set.

In my career spanning over two decades, I've never felt that comedy is a department everybody can excel in because it's an art and only a few are blessed with the talent to entertain.

We had to do the same thing here. To top that sequel was quite a task. Mike had a couple of good conceptual humour and character ideas, which got me back into it.

Luckily, I'm not a stand-up comedian, so I don't get the fear of standing on stage in front of a dead audience: my humorous pieces have to make it past an editor before they get exposed to the public.

I feel like writing a book there's always a version in your head that's an amazing version, but then you write the version that you can write.

Catch me on a good day, I think half of my books aren't too bad. Catch me on a bad day, I think I've never written a good line.

Sitcoms, I always figured that would be an easy gig, but man, it is not.

My writing is progressing slowly, but at least it's moving forward. I'm sure that's the case. The only problem is that I'm never absolutely certain that what I've written is any good.

I find writing very difficult. It's hard and it hurts sometimes, and it's scary because of the fear of failure and the very unpleasant feeling that you may have reached the limit of your abilities.

It's hard enough to be a lady writer. Doubly hard to be a funny lady writer.

People talk about writing convincing teenagers like it's a really clever thing to do, but it comes incredibly naturally to me. Which, of course, is slightly a worry.

We all know funny people who can't get it down on the page - even funny writers who can't get it down on the page.

I like writing dialog but don't think I'd be much good at a screenplay. I once had to write a treatment for a novel of mine - a condition of its being optioned by a movie producer - and I turned out something pretty lackluster. So my inclination would be to stay out of the way of an experienced screenwriter.

A novel is often a longer process in handling self-doubt.

I'm a reluctant writer of non-fiction, in part because I don't really feel qualified.

You go from these high hopes when you're writing to just a desperate want of not making a complete fool of yourself by the end of it.

First and foremost, I just want to write comedy.

I'm such a coward that unless I get a good writer, I don't want to make a picture.

You know, I became a director out of necessity. I was writing comedies, and I couldn't find anybody to deliver it correctly.

You can't be funny if you don't have good material.

I think sketch writing is a good spot for everyone to start because it requires you to develop characters, have a beginning, middle and end and have a bunch of jokes in a short amount of time.

Certainly situation comedy is harder than people who are good at it make it look, but it's fun to do something different.

I'm the guy who gets uncomfortable. That's why I was able to write 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin' and 'Knocked Up.' I believe in those guys.