Quotes About Storytelling

As a historian of American and African-American religion, I know that the Trayvon Martin moment is just one moment in a history of racism in America that, in large part, has its underpinnings in Christianity and its history. Those of us who teach American Religion have a responsibility to tell all of the story, not just the nice touchy-feely parts.

Personally, I think it would have been really nice, if 'Lost' had just one season.

I like to say that I always have a whole book in front of me. I write down the major beats, the major action moments or emotional moments. In theory, that's a book - it's just one page long. Then I start to go back and fill things in.

Acting and making art is just something I love to do, and I love to tell stories that feel important, honest and necessary.

It is okay to put as much money as you want in a story, as long as it is justified.

I am keen to work in romantic stories and dramas.

I am very keen to do a film that's female-led.

I'm especially keen to work with good scriptwriters on stories we have developed.

For a film, when you condense, you don't want to keep going back to the same setting over and over.

The hardest lesson to learn always is to just have faith in that you will always have something to say or a story to tell. I have faith that I'll be able to continue to tell stories, write and tell stories. You just need to keep going at it.

From beginning to end it's about keeping the energy and the intensity of the story and not doing too much and not doing too little, but just enough so people stay interested and stay involved in the characters.

Everything I write about either I have gone through or I know somebody has gone through, so it's very close to me, but sometimes it's about taking those feelings and exaggerating on them a little bit: being a bit more dramatic but still keeping them relatable.

I always devise a background so that it makes what your character goes through logical and keeps up the continuity.

It's hard not to want to become Ken Burns at times. I'm interested in being a Ken Burns who reaches that 17-year-old who goes to the multiplex just to see a good story well-told. And if there's history in it, all the better.

Kenny Lonergan, as a filmmaker, doesn't tell stories so much as he observes them, which is to say, his films don't come pre-digested. You have to bring your own enzymes. It's a more gripping and challenging experience.

The key is a good story. If you have a good story, you have enough emotional beats that you can hit.

For me, certain shots or scenes are keys in the movie.

So, I have those spurts where I get completely mad because I have those stories to tell but if I don't have, I'm happy to kick back also.

One of the great kicks of having a movie made is that you envision this world.

On cable now, the writer is king. Any actor chases that.

I wanted to make a film that wouldn't just appeal to Formula One fans. That's what the great sports documentaries do - 'Hoop Dreams,' 'When We Were Kings' - they're human dramas first, sport second, if at all.

I really look up to writers who are able to write compressed, single-scene stories, where everything happens in a kitchen. But I just can't think that way. For me it would be impossible to write a story where I didn't know what someone's parents did and what their grandparents did and who they used to date.

If you bring in actors right when you're breaking story, it has a 'too many cooks in the kitchen' effect.

It's always easiest for me as a writer if I know I have a great ending. It can make everything else work. If you don't have a good ending, it's the hardest things in the world to come up with one. I always loved the ending of 'The Kite Runner,' and the scenes that are most faithful to the book are the last few scenes.