“I don’t know anything about the writing process…It seems to be something I can do once in a while, but I don’t have very much either to say about it or I don’t understand anything very much about the process…Writing and reading. That’s all that there is. There’s nothing else.”
David Mamet (Pulitzer Prize/ Tony-winner, two-time Oscar-nominated writer)
Conversations with Screenwriters
page 103
Susan Bullington Katz
Of course, that book came out ten years ago so apparently in light of the David Mamet memo he can now pass on a few things about the writing process. But Mamet’s quote brought to mind two longer posts I’ve written; Can Screenwriting be Taught? and Screenwriting, Infomercials & Gurus. The last having one of my favorite quotes on the subject—“So many gurus and so few good writers. Where are all these lessons going?”
Larry Gelbart (Tootsie).
