James L. Brooks Quotes

Marty [Scorsese] knows that when an improvised moment comes out of a real situation, it's gonna have more life and more going on than anything you can imagine and that's how the character can become the story

Nothing can ever be a rule in drama, because then you're saying certain things won't ever happen, and that would be very boring.

Basically, I just write whatever story grabs me rather than considering the genre.

I don't outline at all; I don't find it useful, and I don't like the way it boxes me in. I like the element of surprise and spontaneity, of letting the story find its own way.

I think films are bigger than structure.

Any time a writer thinks he has all the answers to how someone should talk or react or end a scene, it's a spontaneity-killer.

What I learned in 'Sons' is that I would come in with a blueprint of a season and how it would go, and I realized that the looser my grip was, the better it became because the story found itself. Things happened as I wanted them to in terms of the bigger mile markers, but the fun part was I never knew how we would get there.

That's kind of the fun part about acting. We do get the right to kind of get from A to Z any way we want, as long as we start at A and end at Z.

I write my scripts on a whim, without worrying about plot points and graphs.

I don't believe in closed scripts; I think that they should be open.

The way I'm doing it is I'm trying to think to myself, "Okay, I have the name Superman, and he's going to be a guy that deserves the name 'Superman.' I'm trying to forget about Krypton, about The Daily Planet what would I do if I was thinking it up?" I can do it any way at all..I can make him an Eskimo midget who's toothless and blind... I can do anything. It's difficult .

Let the story lead you. If the story needs to be dark, let it go dark. If it's a sweet, good-for-the-world story, that's what it is.

There's never anything planned. I just do what I feel is best for the song at that time.

I like to leave things open, and even when I write out the story ahead of time, it always changes. I don't think I would finish anything if I was sticking to a plan that was very rigid.

I want to do content-driven film, powerful roles which I've never done before.

I look at the story and see what I have got to do in the film. Sometimes the story is great, set-up is good but there isn't much for you to do. I don't want to do that.

Something that comics afford me is being able to change my mind at the last minute.

A good script can come from anywhere.

A show could be 10 minutes, seven minutes, 94 minutes. We just need to tell the stories that need to be told.

I just love to sit and go, 'Let's just write a song and not worry about how it needs to be'.

In general, I don't really think too much about pacing, myself. You kind of look at each script and what each script demands.

I suppose I'm pulled towards fiction because I really like the freedom it gives me.

I'm letting inspiration move me, in whatever direction it may, without concern if this sounds too rap or too indie, or there's too many words in it.

I don't plot, and I don't plan. I like to be surprised like the reader.

I don't have anything to prove as a writer anymore. I write about Panera Bread or Red Lobster or Satan or Richard Ramirez or whatever comes to mind. I just write.