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" There is the cult of the actor and of the director, and there's even been the cult of the celebrity chef and gardener, but there has never been a cult of the screenwriter. But I'm happy about that because what I crave - in a completely venal way - is creative opportunities, not recognition. "

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" No murder or sin or act of barbarism or cruelty has ever been committed by a person fully absorbed in the reading of a book. By this fact alone, we can conclude that readers are nicer people, at least until they put the book down. When we are reading, we are better. "

Anthony McCarten

Alone

Book

Reading

" Since my student days, I'd been a fan of those books with titles like 'Great Speeches that Changed the World,' as I loved the idea that the right person with the right words at the right time could really make a difference. "

" Life is not a waste of time. "

" It's impossible to make a living in the arts unless you make a fortune. There's almost no in-between. Writers are either broke or rolling in it. Oddly, you can't tell them apart. "

" My routine is to create activities for myself unrelated to writing that allow little time for writing. This means that when I do get the chance to write, it is like a stolen luxury, something clandestine and almost forbidden. "

" Truth is seldom appreciated and never understood, whereas a flattering lie is always appreciated and instantly understood. "

" Be more ambitious. Do your homework. There's no easy way around this. "

" I was born to a very large family, one of 7 kids. I grew up with carnivals and chaos all around me, so I can write anywhere. "

Anthony McCarten

I Can

Write

" Commercial success and quality are not necessarily allied. "

" If we did not have the impulse and ability to believe in the impossible, we would not have religion, democracy, or marriage. "

" I am so superstitious that I think even discussing this subject is dangerous and will probably bring me terrible luck. Having been raised a Catholic, superstition becomes almost part of your DNA. The challenge is to slowly rid yourself of these little delusions. "

" You can't write a character more brilliant than yourself. It's just not physically possible. "

" At 17, I wanted to be a rock star. "

" Before Churchill had done anything else, he was a writer. He believed to the core that words matter. They count. They can change the world. "

" There's a really fine line between artistic license and artistic licentiousness. And history is a lousy filmmaker. It doesn't give you all the ingredients you need. No story will quite fulfill that three-act structure. "

" The more I read about the rules the great orators used, the more I realised, of course, this is how you stir people's hearts, and you persuade and cajole and move people out of fixed positions. The techniques are quite menacingly easy. "

" One of the real ways out of conflict is humour. It builds bridges; it's a weapon against rigid ideology, narrow thinking, intolerance. "

" When I grew up, my house contained only two books: the Bible and the 'Edmonds' cookbook. We were a working-class household. Books were a poor second to the television, which was always on, usually with me in front of it. "

" I'm still always surprised that anyone might be interested in my work or me. "

Anthony McCarten

Always

Work

" As you get older, you become more vain. But as your looks slowly deteriorate, your eyesight worsens, so it all balances out. "

" I have three favorite cities: London, Wellington, and Los Angeles. What makes them so good? The friends who live there. "

" Most writers live in self-imposed exile, even when they don't leave their country. They prefer the undiscovered country inside their own heads. "

" If you look at the copies of Churchill's speeches that have survived, they are heavily marked up. He was scrupulous about the impact of each word. He preferred short words and the repetition of short words. He knew everything about the techniques of rhetoric. "

Anthony McCarten

Short

Look

" The New Zealand sense of humor is tough and realistic. Jokes are not surreal; they are about life and death and tough decisions. "