Screenwriting 101: Charles Bennett

“The construction is the most important goddamned thing. It’s like building a house — you have to build the outside properly before you put the bits and pieces inside afterward. Get your story, get your architecture right, and you can always add your dialogue afterwards. A story starts at the beginning, it develops, it works itself out, and it works up to its finale. The great essence of construction is to know your end before your beginning; to know exactly what you’re working up to; and then to work up to that end. To just start off and wander on the way isn’t any good whatever… because you’re wallowing.”

— Charles Bennett (The Man Who Knew Too Much, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The 39 Steps)

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