Michael Chabon Quotes

Whenever I hear the narration for a new film, I have this process back home where my mother reads all my scripts.

For all the hundreds of scripts that are out there, there's not that many that are amazing.

Basically I started to jot notes, lots of faxes back and forth to my writer, we faxed ideas throughout the whole first draft, and started all over again.

There are no real guidelines or maps in Australia as to how to write a show, whereas in Hollywood it's where the TV industry is created and there's a lot of work that goes into development.

Some of the material out there - I don't want to say that it's all bad - but there's a lot of bad stuff out there. You just continue reading scripts, and eventually you find something you connect with.

My brother is my go-to with scripts, especially when we're talking genre pieces, because I want to make sure that it's legit. I can love it, but then I pass stuff on to him.

Writing film scripts is the hardest thing in the world. A script has to go to five or six drafts, and you need the feedback of other people and to keep coming back with a fresh eye, honing it down.

Screenwriting is a much more collaborative effort. When you write a novel, it's just you, with input from your editor.

Writing, yeah. Me and my friend Scott Bloom just finished the first rough draft of a script. It's taken us three years to do, but we finally got a first draft. And we'll see whatever happens with that.

In many senses, 'Borgen' was a very democratic show. I was always invited to hear the writers' thoughts for the next episodes and allowed to comment on them.

Writing scripts is a laborious job that can be a real pain.

I've never read a screenplay in advance. You trust the artist.

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

It's rare to work on a series without a writer. If you have a question about a line, then phone calls have to be made.

My easiest judgment for a script is 'do I want to keep reading it?'

It's not like I have boxes of scripts arriving at my door.

If you are still thinking about a script after five or ten years, that's a sign that it's good - not that it's stale. And the opposite is true - if everyone wants to make your movie, that's a sign that it probably sucks.

I would never turn down an invitation to co-write another Pee-wee Herman movie!

When it comes to scripts, I take a critical look at them and then sound it off with Dad.

Acting is my first love and I want to stick to it. But I would be happy to offer my inputs to a script, if asked.

I get a lot of emails of scripts and pilots, and they want me to give feedback, and sometimes I can't because it's so many.

You have to write a lot of scripts to get any scripts that are worth making.

I didn't like the script [of Aquarius], I loved it.

I structure the scripts and work on them on films and work on scenes with writers and but I haven't written a script myself, I really respect what they do and I'm fortunate I get to work with people that I really enjoy working with and we all kind of spitball and work together on these things, but I haven't written a script yet.

What you see in my script may not be what's in the film. Sometimes it's a very scary thing, when I have to shoot in the morning and the scene's not good enough, and it's only me there, and there's no signal to even call the others and say, think of a better line.