Michael Hirst Quotes

For most directors, the scriptwriter is about as welcome on set as a member of the Taliban.

I think film and television - particularly film - you are very isolated as a writer. If you're lucky, you have a good relationship with the director. Then you do make that development and come on set and be part of something. But ultimately, your work is kind of done by the time you come on set.

I can't imagine directing from someone else's script.

To have someone like Clint Eastwood come along and shoot your first draft as written is just any screenwriter's dream. And Clint is very straightforward. If it's good enough to get his attention, it's good enough to produce.

It's possible for me to make a bad movie out of a good script, but I can't make a good movie from a bad script.

Capra always wanted a screenwriter with him, even on the soundstage. The writer had to be there at his side.

Being on set is difficult for the writer. Your job is done, and you have to step back and hand it over to the director.

I am no expert on tax; I'm a film producer. I read books and think about which ones would make good movies, and then I work with directors in order to make them.

In the case of 'Blood Stone,' the producers, EON, Michael Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, David Wilson and Gregg Wilson, had an idea for a story and had a lot of it done. And I came in, worked with them, fleshed it out.

The filmmaking process is a team effort. A screenwriter cannot possibly do exactly what he wants as if he was writing a novel.

I think it's always good for the author to stay a good cattle prod's distance from the actual moviemaking.

Donnie Brasco was great, but the energy on the set made it kinda hard to get in there and have an opinion.

It took 17 years to get 'Rambling Rose' made from the time Calder Willingham wrote the script adapted from his novel. Ed Scherick, the producer, was interested in it. Martha Coolidge was interested in directing it.

Since signing with Universal, I have been working closely with Gary Ross, the director, producer and screenwriter. We have spent many hours on the phone, and I've been sending him information and items that have been useful to the writing process.

A film goes through so many hands, that by the time it's done, it might not resemble what you thought you were making.

I always claim that the writer has done 90 percent of the director's work.

There comes a time as you continue to write and work on scripts and screenplays where you realize that you have opinions about the next step of the process, and you kind of want more control over the translation from page to screen.

Part of what I love about producing is to get to work with writers.

I find that with every script I get, I go, 'Who knew this? This is so cool!'

It's good to work with a writer-director.

I probably won't direct the stories I am writing but will star in them.

Sometimes when you do a whole script, you hand it off, and it gets rewritten by a bunch of people, and people don't really get that much of a sense of how funny you can be.

So, yes, I wrote a script called 'Ben Is Back' that I got to make with a bunch of remarkable artists and craftspeople.

Sometimes, there is a long gap between the time the script was written and when it went on the floors. Being on the sets can be refreshing, as you can revive the script in some ways.

There are films that look very interesting when on paper, but things change while shooting. At times, things changed during post-production, and I see no reason to blame anything on anyone. It is a collaborative effort. If it failed, we should face it.