Francis Ford Coppola's Thoughts on Screenwriting

Francis Ford Coppola on Writing

Coppola describes the way he writes scripts and compares it to "an actor doing an improvisation."

He says that when he sits down to write, he imagines himself watching a movie play out in his head. He sees the scenes, hears the dialogue, and then writes it all down.

But that's not the special part.

Coppola says that sometimes new ideas will come to him while he's writing, and he'll add those in as well. He avoids reading what he's written until he's finished for the day because he doesn't want to be discouraged by it or hate it.

The next day, he picks up where he left off and continues the improvisation exercise.

After a few days of writing this way, Coppola will have a pile of pages that he still won't read, but he letsh imself be encouraged by how much he's done.

That's restraint I never have. and it's an approach I'd love to try.

When things dry up, he will make a short step outline to keep himself on track. He emphasizes that this outline shouldn't be too detailed, just enough to give him a general idea of where the story is going.

Coppola said this is basically daydreaming a movie's first draft.

I kind of love how free-flowing this is and how it probably can get things done faster. Sure, you'll have to refine and rewrite, but getting all the ideas out of paper helps. I also love priming yourself to see every idea without judging them, just let your brain get out on the paper and then see where it takes you.