Screenwriting 101: Ted Elliott
“When I hear aspiring screenwriters who talk about, ‘Yeah, I saw Godzilla and it was terrible. I can write better than that.’ My feeling…
“When I hear aspiring screenwriters who talk about, ‘Yeah, I saw Godzilla and it was terrible. I can write better than that.’ My feeling about that is, no, go watch The Godfather or Casablanca or Ghostbusters, and say, ‘Holy crap! That was great, I want to write something that good!’ If you look at a movie and say, ‘That’s crap, I can do better,’ then basically all you’re trying to do is write crap plus one. It’s far better to try to write the best thing you’ve ever seen, because at least you’re aspiring to a higher level.”
— Ted Elliott, Creative Screenwriting, July/August, 2003
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