The great movie can be as free of being a record of the progress of the protagonist as is a dream.

Forget narrative, backstory, characterisation, exposition, all of that. Just make the audience want to know what happens next.

If you find that a point cannot be made without narration, it is virtually certain that the point is unimportant to the story (which is to say, to the audience).

I tend to write a lot, which I think is the secret to being prolific.

If you're writing an opinion piece, it's your job to write your opinion. If, on the other hand, you wrote a novel, as Virginia Woolf tells us, it would be inappropriate if you let your novel be influenced by your political opinions.

Any time two characters are talking about a third, the scene is a crock of s***.

The main question in drama, the way I was taught, is always, 'What does the protagonist want?' That's what drama is. It comes down to that. It's not about theme, it's not about ideas, it's not about setting, but what the protagonist wants.