Quote

Well, the studios don't really want to take those risks right off the bat. They'll take the risk after they've seen the finished product and say oh yeah we want that. This is a great film but they are hesitant to take the risk when you just see it on paper.

People are very reluctant to invest unless they know it's going to be a sure thing, and let's face it: film is never a sure thing.

Contrary to what many writers imply about the process, nobody forces a writer to sell his work to the film industry.

So much of selling a film in the industry is about creating a fulcrum where all the pressure comes to bear, and something seems suddenly valuable and approved by an audience. It's amazing how people could pick up tons of films on the cheap, but they don't because they wait until everything is laid out for them.

If people have bought something of mine, they know by now that I will decline writing it for the movies.

No one bought my screenplays.

If a movie doesn't even have financing yet, they'll do a table read for it at a casting director's office with actors, for the producer and the writer, just to hear if the movie is working.

The strange thing is that since I've been offered lots of films I think that maybe they think that I've sold out to Hollywood. Which is not the case if anybody's listening.

Very, very rare that you do a job knowing that the audience is desperate for you to do that job. Most films you make don't get released, is the fact.

Writers are so used to books being optioned and then the movie never happens.