Michael Arndt

Good writing is deceptive in that it hides its own artifice - it makes it seem easy.

If you write a bunch of different characters with a bunch of different opinions, you end up with these long scenes of everyone standing around talking.

I like to begin every screenplay with a burst of delusional self-confidence. It tends to fade pretty quickly, but (for me, at least) there doesn't seem to be any other way to start writing a script.

If every time you engage in a sex act, you go into a confession box, you will never accept your own sexuality.

Most detective story readers are an educated audience and know there are only a certain number of plots. The interest lies in what the writer does with them.

Composers, like authors, have a lot in common. Our main goal is to connect with the listener emotionally.