A novel is both a story and a piece of writing. A movie is a story and a piece of filmmaking.
I couldn't read a screenplay without puking.
I'm a very slow screenwriter. It takes time for me to write a screenplay. Also, I feel it's not my strength.
In doing the screenplay for 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' the most important thing for me was to constantly go back to wherever the opposition would argue. So I had to keep reading all the books and articles about why McCarthy is such a good guy.
There are so many elements that make a good film. You need a great director who's driving it.
Every time I get a script in my inbox, it's like a little Christmas present. It's so exciting to see what they've cooked up.
What I think is a really special movie is 'Black and White' with Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer, which Mike Binder directed. I got to see a screening of it, and I think Kevin and Octavia and Anthony Mackie and Bill Burr all give such beautiful performances in that movie.
If the script is not good, the film will not work.
Scripts are kind of a bare bones type of reading material.
I am not interested in doing a film on the basis of a good story. I want a proper screenplay.
Every so often, when I am feeling plucky, I try to write a screenplay that combines all 10 of Americans' top phobias and market it as a sleeper hit.
'Rent' was a special project for me. It was my first notable screenplay job. I worked with two wonderful directors on it, starting with Spike Lee in the summer of 2001. I wrote a draft for Spike and he was really good to me.
In terms of creativity, both are equally satisfying. Music album is for yourself, where you compose songs and stuff like that, and in films, you have a story, characters, and songs penned by someone else.
If there's a good screenplay, there's a chance that something good is going to happen. If you don't have a brilliant screenplay, then you either have amazing actors who give you the chance to improve whatever is on the page, or an interesting director who has enough faith in the project that they can carry it through and get it somewhere.
I want to carry a really great role in a great film.
The script - and a good one - tells you everything that you need to know.
I've requested Anand Raghav to write a full length comedy for me.
I sign a film based on the story, the role I play, and the maker.
I can work a lot faster when I'm writing a screenplay than when I'm writing a play because, if I'm having a problem with a scene or something, I can just be writing it in a way where there's no dialogue, or find a way to make sound do the work that I want to do or a close-up do the work that I need to do.
The combo of a great story and good director works for me.
When I write something, I want the best director to direct it. And that's not going to be me. So when David Fincher comes along and wants to direct 'The Social Network,' when Bennett Miller comes along and wants to direct 'Moneyball,' or when Danny Boyle wants to direct 'Jobs'? Hallelujah. I want them directing it.
When I write a screenplay - and I think it's one of the reasons why it was frustrating for me just to be a screenwriter - I'm not thinking of it in terms of words on a page; I'm thinking in terms of visual images - basically, a comic book. I'm thinking of it in a series of shots.
Yes, there is some thought about making a film of My Name Is Asher Lev.
I felt like 'Life' was a great show. It was really well-written.
There were five writers on Blazing Saddles.
