Screenplays are not works of art. They are invitations to others to collaborate on a work of art. Paul Schrader More Quotes by Paul Schrader More Quotes From Paul Schrader I teach a course in screenwriting at Columbia, but I've never taken a course and I've never read a book about it! Paul Schrader columbiatakenbook When you have people who are embarrassing themselves for a living, who are making themselves look foolish and vulnerable and emotional for a living, your day-to-day reality is going to be a high-wire act. People are going to get in fights. People are going to get upset. People are going to walk off set. People are going to call each other names. It happens on every film that has any emotional people. Paul Schrader emotionalfightingreality That's just my disposition - to create a situation where you have to come up with something. Paul Schrader dispositioncome-upsituation Nobody has shot a strip club in black and white in a long time. Paul Schrader clubsblack-and-whitelong I was looking for people who didn't have any preconceptions about films, what I call the "post-rules" generation. Paul Schrader generationsfilmpeople I had this whole issue of doing a crime film in the 2010s. The genre's been mined very, very heavily. Post-Scorsese, post-Tarantino, post-Guy Ritchie, what do you do? I wasn't attracted to pulp so much as all of a sudden I had a pulp problem. I had to find a way to make this interesting, because there's a lot of crime films that come out on VOD every week, and a number of these star Nicolas Cage. Paul Schrader issuesstarsnumbers There's something wrong - the performance, the weather, the set design, the lighting. Something is not working. And so you say, "Give me 10 minutes." When you're first directing, you're terrified. But when you've been in that situation enough times, you know that under pressure, it will come to you. Paul Schrader designweathergiving Words are a completely different form of expression. The word P-E-N-I-S is an entirely different form of communication than a photograph of the same thing. H Paul Schrader communicationdifferentphotograph Now I see it clearly. My whole life has pointed in one direction. I see that now. There never has been any choice for me. Paul Schrader one-directiondestinychoices I don't think it's very useful to open wide the door for young artists; the ones who break down the door are more interesting. Paul Schrader artistwritingthinking You know, when you're in your twenties you use a great deal of symbolism. You somehow think that a character standing beneath a cross is more interesting than a character standing underneath a billboard, but when you get a little older you realize that there's not much difference. Paul Schrader symbolismcharacterthinking You can't take contradiction away. Part of the fun of it is that the contradiction never really quite goes away. Paul Schrader contradictionfun I get bored very easily. I find most movies boring. I go to movies and ask, "How do they stay awake making this?" Paul Schrader awakeboredboring The only economic paradigm that movies have ever known is capitalism. There were no church sponsors or state patronage. The idea was that if you'd pay to see it, we'll make it for you. Paul Schrader churchpayideas 'Taxi Driver' wasn't autobiographical in terms of the actual events, but I did draw on my own mental state. Paul Schrader taxieventsstates As screenwriters, we struggle with our own success. We have wallpapered our world and now we can't get anyone to notice the picture we just hung. Paul Schrader our-worldhungstruggle I was raised as a Calvinist, which is doctrine-driven. And though there are many things wrong with Calvinism, you are at least encouraged to argue about things. Paul Schrader doctrinedrivenarguing Anything that doesn't bore me I think is doable because it's keeping me awake. Paul Schrader boresawakethinking All the animals come out at night. Paul Schrader animalnight The clock is impotent; mechanical time does not affect those living in an eternal present. Paul Schrader eternalclockdoe
