I rewrote the ending of 'Farewell to Arms' 39 times before I was satisfied.
- Ernest Hemingway

When your story is ready for rewrite, cut it to the bone. Get rid of every ounce of excess fat. This is going to hurt; revising a story down to the bare essentials is always a little like murdering children, but it must be done.
— Stephen King

You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.
― Jodi Picoult

A film is – or should be – more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what`s behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.  
- Stanley Kubrick

Do not be told something is impossible. There is always a way.
– Robert Rodriguez

If you’ve got craft, you got game. If you got game, you can write your way in and out of anything. Writing is the best gig in the whole business, as far as I’m concerned. It’s the only job where you don’t have to wait for someone to tell you what to do. You just sit down and make s**t up.
– Robert Mark Kamen

Rewriting isn't just about dialogue; it's the order of the scenes, how you finish a scene, how you get into a scene.
- Tom Stoppard

You become a great writer by writing lots and lots of stories, not by rewriting the same story over and over again.
― Scott William Carter

It wasn’t until about the fifth draft of ‘sixth sense’ that I really began to figure it out. It was then that I realized he’s dead. It took me five more drafts to execute it right.  
- M. Night Shyamalan

The first draft is nothing more than a starting point, so be wrong as fast as you can.  
- Andrew Stanton

Everyone who tells me they don’t have time to write, I just say, ‘One scene a night for three months, and you’ll have a movie—you can even use the weekends.’ It’s possible to be a writer if you want to be a writer, even without all the time in the world….After doing the dishes, instead of turning on the television or reading a book or going to the movies, write one scene. Whatever you do write one scene.   - Bruce Joel Rubin

It is better to write a bad first draft than to write no first draft at all.
– Will Shetterly

A structural approach to screenwriting requires patience and discipline, but the rewards are great. You might find if you spend three weeks hammering out your story, the actual screenwriting will take only a week.
- Greg Marcks

The most ordinary word, when put into place, suddenly acquires brilliance. That is the brilliance with which your images must shine.
– Robert Bresson

You can’t just ask someone who’s never met you to read your script. When you walk up to a total stranger with a 110-page screenplay in your hand, shove it at them and say, “Would you please read my script?” it’s like asking a stranger, “Hi, you don’t know me, but would you help me move this weekend?” You’re asking for five hours of somebody’s time – time to read it, to prepare notes, and the time they’ll spend with you over the phone trying to talk you off the ledge. When it comes to connecting with others who are in a position to help you, you should look at it this way: It’s an imposition to be asked for a favour, but it’s flattering to be asked for advice.
– Bill Marsilii, DEJA VU, THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

Rewriting isn't just about dialogue; it's the order of the scenes, how you finish a scene, how you get into a scene.
- Tom Stoppard

Scriptwriting is the toughest part of the whole racket…the least understood and the least noticed.
- Frank Capra

Once you crack the script, everything else follows.
– Ridley Scott

“Writing is both a pleasure and a struggle. There are times when it’s really aversive and unpleasant, and there are times when it’s wonderful and fun and magical, but that’s not the point. Writing is my job. I’m not a believer of waiting for the muse. You don’t put yourself in the mood to go to your nine-to-five job, you just go. I start in the morning and write all day. Successful writers don’t wait for the muse to fill themselves unless they’re geniuses. I’m not a genius. I’m smart, I have some talent, and I have a lot of stubbornness. I persevere. I was by no means the best writer in my class in college. I’m just the one still writing.”
– Akiva Goldsman

If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed.
– Stanley Kubrick

Plot is people. Human emotions and desires founded on the realities of life, working at cross purposes, getting hotter and fiercer as they strike against each other until finally there’s an explosion — that’s Plot.
— Leigh Brackett

I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.
- Harper Lee

People say, ‘What advice do you have for people who want to be writers?’ I say, they don’t really need advice, they know they want to be writers, and they’re gonna do it. Those people who know that they really want to do this and are cut out for it, they know it.
R.L. Stine

If you wanna write movies, you can't stop when you get pissed on and rejected.
- William Goldman