20 Screenwriting and Directing Tips from Steven Spielberg on how he created Jaws and West Side Story

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Steven Spielberg is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. One of the most influential personalities in the history of cinema is Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. He's films include Jaws, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan and the latest West Side Story.


Dream for a living.

The goal is to bring together people of different ideologies under one roof and make them walk out of the theater feeling the same emotions.

Learn how to be a storyteller first.

Life is one long string of character defining moments. Listen to your intuition when facing them.

If you’re making a historical movie, it needs to be told as truthfully as possible.

Think back to your previous film or an idea you had and look at it from another angle and ask yourself ‘what if this happened?’

Almost every story is a reimagining of an older classical story, told from a contemporary perspective.

Ask the actor to give you too much at first, then bring them down to life-level.

Bend the rules to learn about filmmaking.

Make your film a conversation with the younger generation to inspire change and to inspire the way they make films.

Musical sequences, even more so than action scenes, require a lot of mathematics and equations so you need to find good collaborators that can help you solve it.

Stay devoted to your original idea.

Sometimes your dream whispers, it doesn’t shout. Listen to the whisper.

Pay attention to the past. Respect the films that have come before you.

Aim to tell a story, rather than trying to sell a product.

You can express yourself with very little. Use everything available to you.

When you fail, immediately throw yourself back into your next project.

It’s ok to first steal something you like and later on find your voice.

Create suspense by not showing the threat for some time.

When an idea hits you like a ton of bricks, start writing scenes and put the story together immediately.

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