Quotes About Storytelling

Every movie has three things you have to do - you have to have a compelling story that keeps people on the edge of their seats; you have to populate that story with memorable and appealing characters; and you have to put that story and those characters in a believable world. Those three things are so vitally important.

Basically you come up with the fictional idea and you start writing that story, but then in order to write it and to make it seem real, you sometimes put your own memories in. Even if it's a character that's very different from you.

People ask me if I am going to write my memoirs. But even if I wanted to, I would not be able. I have extremely few memories.

I envision the script as a story in my mind, memorize the entire thing and have it play out. It helps me figure out where my character needs to go.

Memory narrativises itself.

Getting to have an opportunity to tell a story that is about mental illness and how it affects one's self and one's community was really something that really meant a lot to me.

One of the bad things about being a filmmaker, about being me, is I can hardly read a book anymore because every time I read something, I have a poaching mentality, like, 'Oh, can this be a movie?'

A lot of my stand-up early on was stories from my childhood. And my childhood is over - there's not new childhood stories to come. They've all been mentioned.

I don't want people to look at my menu and see just the ingredients. I want to take them on a journey.

I'm at the mercy of whatever character comes into my head.

Most of my story ideas come from my childhood. Sometimes they hatch from stories my parents told me, sometimes they come from experiences in my own life, and sometimes they are inspired by mere moments.

It wasn't until I saw 'Rocky' that I realized movies could affect people beyond mere entertainment.

Just wearing expensive and glamorous clothes do not merit for me to do a film. There has to be a good story and a good role.

Writing a novel is so hard, and there are so many problems that the last thing you're thinking about is adapting this mess you have on your hands as a movie. You just want to get it to work as a novel. That's your main focus.

When I sit down to write, I don't think about writing about an idea or a given message. I just try to write a story which is hard enough.

I don't believe films should have a message, but 'Saleem' does.

I think my books talk about kids learning to like and respect themselves and each other. You can't write a message book; you just tell the best story you know how to tell.

You set out to tell a good story. You don't do it because there is a deep message involved because the movie is almost always bad when you do that.

When you boil it down, most movies are message movies. And I think careers are made in message movies.

You can't be preachy - kids are allergic to messages.

My goal was to leverage the power of movies and the reach they have and include important messages. Of course, they still have to be entertaining so that people will watch them, but I wanted to make sure there was a message, a takeaway.

For 'Seabiscuit', I interviewed 100 people I never met.

For my part, as a filmmaker, I've never been a fly-on-the-wall documentarian. I have no commitment to that method. I believe it's a lie.

When I went to Bosnia, I was there to tell someone else's story and I was more methodical.