20 Screenwriting and Directing Tips from Steven Spielberg on how he created Jaws and West Side Story
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Published 2022-01-08
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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All Comments (21)
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With all the craziness that's been going on as of late I get such a strong feeling of nostalgia remembering the times I would watch Spieldberg's amazing pictures when they first came out, like the original Jurassic Park as an example. Man, good times!
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Raiders, E.T. , Jaws, Temple of Doom, Private Ryan, Jurassic Park, Schindler's list, Close Encounters, Last Crusade, Empire of the sun
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What gets me with Spielberg is how humble he is and willing to share. Also, his respect he has for those who told the stories in the past. Thank you for this video.
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My hero. A true filmmaker for all times. Perhaps he is the most important filmmaker we have or have ever had.
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When I was kid, wanting to write stories and make movies, Steven Spielberg was my idol, and I was lucky to catch a glimpse of him on TV being interviewed about his newest movie. When DVD came along, I got to know him a little bit more with the bonus extras and interviews. Now, thanks to YouTube, Spielberg is my mentor. I can literally sit here and watch video after video, for hours on end, learning from the greatest living director of all time speak like he's still a child living with total awe and inspiration.
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I love you Spielberg so much! E.T. Jurassic Park, jaws, saving private Ryan, all masterpieces!👏👏
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The Adventures of Tintin, Jaws, E.T, Minority Report, Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park. Movies I genuinely loved.
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"..As close to the feeling of flying i evet had" Now that is passion and true love for writing
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Tip 3 is where every artist should start. Still one of the greatest director working in Hollywood today.
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could listen to him talk about movies for hours on end.
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One with so much to give both behind and in front of the camera. I relish the authenticity of his every comment - as I have relished his every movie to date. Spielberg reminds us not only of what we can(not) see in this world ... but of what we can be! Inspirational. Footnote: bravo to the editor too, on your work
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Wow, I adore Steven so much. We all can relate to him especially when he describes his childhood. Thanks for assembling all these icons for us writers who are struggling in one way or another. Steven is my favorite as all his stories have such heart.
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Filmmaking is hard, but Spielberg makes it as easy as it can be. I´m convinced that this is so because all the myriad crew who help him realize his works (who he tends to employ from film to film) don´t make doing so any more difficult than it has to be. The basis of this is mutual respect. Believe me, there are a lot of stories of productions from hell in Tinseltown. He doesn´t need to worry about this.
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This is going to be a awesome video. I hope you do more tv writing videos. I really enjoyed them.
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For the community experience of an audience sitting in a darkened theatre that you brought up- brings a memory of the late 1970s, with my parents and I sitting in a second-run movie theatre and watching the Sean Connery James Bond classic, "From Russia with Love." Part way into to film- in the projection room something happened and the film lost all sound. When the problem couldn't be fixed, the manager offered all in the audience a refund for their ticket. But some decided to stay anyway- including me and my parents. I will never forget the audience participation: When Connery mysteriously came up with a ship's Captain hat while steering a small craft- someone in the audience yelled "Where the hell did he get that hat?"//But the Ultimate remark of the evening was when the villain of the piece- a women who wore a shoe that she could eject from the toe an attached, poisoned blade she killed people with; when she finally met her end near the picture's conclusion, her face looked as if uttering this loud, painful shriek with mouth wide open while she slowly crouched/fell to the floor- one wit in the audience yelled out "I'm melting!" Four decades later...and I still remember it and the audience reaction
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My whole life he has inspired me. such a hero. Now i am getting closer than ever to achieving my goal of being a filmmaker and stuntman.
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Steven Spielberg's Schindler's list was the first black & white movie I saw from start to finish in once. And man it was a experience it was just so moving and heart crussing No surprise black and white movies have the norm because it enhances the story and performances
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It was an excellent video, It's always a pleasure to hear Steven
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I wanna see a TV series about young Speilberg's time sneaking into Universal. It could be half-real, half-fiction, but all fun and delightful. He could even produce it since it'd be off of his memory.
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I love Empire of the Sun a lot! and E.T., of course Jurassic Park and Back to the Future! :) I love Steven's use of light in his films.
