Hard Hitting Screenwriting Advice from Aaron Sorkin, Danny Boyle, & Steven Spielberg
The Academy Originals YouTube channel is chock-full of excellent educational content from world-renowned filmmakers. Their most recent video, however, might very well be their most star-studded and insightful one yet. It features a whole roster of famous directors, screenwriters, and actors as they tackle the question of what advice they'd give to screenwriters. Check it out:
My favorite piece of advice from this piece doesn't come from any of the big-name players in the title of this article, but instead from comedian and actress Sarah Silverman. Perhaps it resonates so strongly with me because it's something that's not only applicable to screenwriters, but all writers. That advice is simply to start writing, and then keep writing until you've finished a draft. Even if it's the most atrocious piece of writing ever conceived, just get the damn thing done.
The reasoning behind this is that writing is more like sculpture than anything else. It's all about the small refinements, chipping away bit by bit until a finished whole emerges from the dust. When it comes to writing, it helps so much to have a draft that you can continuously refine and experiment on until something great comes from it. On the other hand, if you try to write your polished final draft from scratch, you'll likely end up frustrated with the fact that your draft isn't living up to your high expectations.
What's the best piece of screenwriting advice you've ever received? Share it with us down in the comments!
Source: Academy Originals - YouTube