I write screenplays that don't get made and pilots that don't get picked up, and I re-write other people's movies, and those are all different kinds of fees.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The writer in movies is about as low as you can get and you really are a hired hand. You are paid a lot of money to be treated like dirt.
I feel that if you want to make films, you have to be willing to make it without a fee. You get a deferment, I guess.
You can't write a screenplay if you've been doing a zero-hours contract. Which means that the people who write drama, the people who commission dramas, and the people who direct dramas all come from a small circle of society.
I started off writing kind of big summer, blockbustery kinds of movies, but at that time, I had no name, nobody knew who I was, and somebody told me I can't write movies that are going to cost $100 million to make and expect someone to buy them; it was just impractical.
Since I began making movies, I've always looked for screenwriters instead of going through the long and painful process of writing.
I have enjoyed writing my own stuff, and it's been a privilege to be able to scrap some money together to be able to make films from my own scripts.
I started writing screenplays myself and eventually directing.
If I really considered myself a writer, I wouldn't be writing screenplays. I'd be writing novels.
The simple idiot's advice I give to screenwriters who say they want to sell a screenplay is, 'Write good.'
I've been a screenwriter for twenty-five years. Every one of my books have been optioned for movies and I have written a few of those screenplays.