We are so saddened to hear about William Goldman’s passing. As we reflect on his life and career, we’d like to share a few quotes from panelists at past Conferences who’ve been influenced and inspired by his work.
“When you’re reading a script you know very quickly if you’re in the hands of someone who’s a good storyteller or at least someone you want to tell you a story. I think when you sit down to write…sometimes you’re telling a story to someone and then sometimes you’re putting your arm around them and telling the story…I think one of the best at putting his arm around you and telling you a tale is like when you read the best stuff of William Goldman. He has that ability to go outside the script and outside the movie and say, “Didn’t I just tell you this? Weren’t you paying attention?” You know that kind of stuff that if I were to try it would be really, really pretentious and wouldn’t work, but for some reason in the best of his stuff he had the ability to put his arm around you and sit by the fire and tell you a tale…”
-John Lee Hancock, writer/director The Alamo; writer A Perfect World
“Most people write fiction, short stories in college and discover they want to be a writer. I will say that if you take certain screenplays as models, you want to learn from the best, you go back and read early Walter Hill & William Goldman when in his prime, you will discover the type of writing on the page that gives a lie to that notion that you can’t express yourself the same way as in a novel. There is a way to write a screenplay that is compelling and novelistic, and expresses something of your emotions. It’s just more difficult. Exterior, Interior what time of day, night, it’s not that hard really. Once you read screenplays by people who have really done it right, you realize that there aren’t a lot of rules.”
-Shane Black writer/director Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys
“The best screenwriters are people like Bill Goldman, who wrote BUTCH CASSIDY, ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, and is a genius script writer because he writes like Hemingway. His sentences are short, his descriptions are almost perfect. I always recommend people read the script of BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID. It’s an amazing script, and that’s what I try to go for.”
-Terry George, writer The Promise, Reservation Road, Hotel Rwanda
“If you want to know everything about writing, it’s in Adventures in the Screen Trade”
-John Ridley, writer 12 Years a Slave, creator American Crime