From Slogans for the screenwriter’s wall:

‘Movies show and then tell’

– I agree… I think films are more an exploration of actions, but I also think what a character says is valuable. They can emphasise those actions. If the words are resounding enough

– I think ultimately audiences are interested more in a series of events than a series of thoughts; an audience will remember what a character does before they remember what a character says

– I watched a film called Hunger (Steve Mcqueen) and it was captivating. There wasn’t any important dialogue until the midpoint; prior there were only actions shown by characters. The scene at the midpoint really began to contextualise the film. It went over fifteen minutes, but it just worked, because the actions were entertaining enough and the dialogue fitted in at the right moment. It didn’t feel like it was too late for dialogue… Fassbender as Bobby Sands goes: ‘I have my belief, and in all its simplicity that is the most powerful thing’– it just worked… or when he is asked which part of the bible is best to smoke: ‘We only smoke the Lamentations. A right miserable cigarette’– things you overlook, like a character rolling a cigarette, can be made so relevant when the act is spoken about… There is definitely a relationship between action and dialogue

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‘Screenplays aren’t written. They are re-written; and re-written; and re-written; and re-written’

– its kind of sad, but I its definitely true; a screenplay will rarely be what it was; a writer’s work is never as authentic as it could be; the process is so long and hard and I kind of believe that once it is handed to a producer, a screenplay sometimes loses all the value it had for a writer- -unless the writer is in a position where his or her work is always valuable to an audience, thus to a producer

– and then there is that whole notion I like of writing for yourself; once you make your ideas accountable to a producer or an audience, it just loses what it was to you, and it becomes such a difficult task; a friend of mine, so clear headed with this kind of thing, highlighted this to me; it makes anything creative easy to produce, because your doing it for yourself, and its great if it makes you money, but if it doesn’t then your not bothered; you re-write and re-write and re-write and re-write for yourself, not for anyone else, and maybe thats when a story is its at its most organic point