Video: Eric Roth

Reflections on the screenwriting craft from the screenwriter of Forrest Gump and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Eric Roth is one of the most successful screenwriters in Hollywood today. His writing credits include Forrest Gump, The Horse Whisperer, The Insider, Ali, Munich, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, A Star Is Born, and Dune.

Here is a feature put out by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, part of their Creative Spark series.

Two remarkable things Roth reveals in this video:

• Roth uses DOS. That’s right. DOS.
• “I always start at page one every day, ‘coz I think it’s a series, I call, ‘erosion.’ You always have to keep refilling, I think you’re always improving it that way.”

Hey, whatever works. And obviously, it works for Roth!

For more videos with screenwriters in the Creative Sparks series, go here.