Stanley Kubrick famously said, 鈥淚f it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed.鈥� The American filmmaker, regarded as one of the most influential directors of all time, was probably suggesting that a great film involves a good story with a brilliant script.

And apparently pitching it successfully is part of the job as well.

At a forum held recently, Shanghai Daily spoke to four Hollywood screenwriters 鈥� Michael Arndt, David Magee, Nicole Perlman and Edward Ricourt 鈥� on what it takes to come up with a great, and ultimately a successful story 鈥� and script.

It was equally important, they said, to not only write a story well but also to pitch it smartly 鈥� a craft that requires both practise and patience.

The four screenwriters, part of writers鈥� exchange forum co-hosted by Disney and Shanghai Media Group, said that Hollywood too was crying out for good scripts, despite the fact that the top three hits on China鈥檚 mainland in the first half of the year were all Hollywood blockbusters 鈥� 鈥淔ast and Furious 7,鈥� 鈥淎vengers 2鈥� and 鈥淛urassic World.鈥�

The box-office collection exceeded 20.3 billion yuan (US$3.3 billion) in the same period, growing 48 percent from the same period last year 鈥� the fastest growth in the past five years. It is expected to cross 40 billion yuan by the end of the year.

Arndt was the first screenwriter to be nominated for two awards at the same time 鈥� Academy Award nomination for Best Original screenplay for 鈥淟ittle Miss Sunshine鈥� (2006) and Best Adapted Screenplay for 鈥淭oy Story 3鈥� (2010). He won the award for 鈥淟ittle Miss Sunshine.鈥�

Magee was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for films 鈥淔inding Neverland鈥� (2004) and 鈥淟ife of Pi鈥� (2012). Perlman鈥檚 鈥淕uardians of the Galaxy鈥� (2014) and Ricourt鈥檚 鈥淣ow You See Me鈥� (2013) enjoyed box office success in China.

Michael Arndt

Q: How did you get into screen writing?

A: For a long time, I had a job reading scripts for studios and have read hundreds of scripts. From that, I learned what was working, and what was not. I was also personal assistant to actor Matthew Broderick. What was good about that job was that I was able to read the screenplays sent to him, so I knew exactly what was happening in Hollywood, in terms of screenplays. That gave me the courage to say I鈥檓 going to write my own screenplays, and to become a professional screenplay writer.

Q: How did you come up with the story of 鈥淟ittle Miss Sunshine?鈥�

A: I was looking for a movie with a good ending. I decided I would write a story that had the happiest ending. I knew the best endings are always those that seems the worst possible thing was going to happen to a character, and then, one second, everything flips around, and the best possible thing happens.

I was searching for an ending like that when I saw a child beauty pageant. All those skinny blond little girls were walking around, and I thought, wouldn鈥檛 it be great if you have this little chubby girl getting up on stage, and everyone would think it would be the worst thing ever, the most humiliating moment of her life. And instead, the music starts, and she rocks the house, blows everybody away. I thought that would a great ending. Once I found that ending, all I had to do was to reverse engineer to the beginning.

Q: What makes a good story?

A: The No. 1 thing is to have a great character. Your lead character should have a story inside him already. In the case of 鈥淟ittle Miss Sunshine,鈥� a little chubby girl wants to be a beauty queen, automatically there is a ticking time bomb attached to that story, and drama in itself is about the character changing.

If you go back to Shakespeare, King Lear starts up being at fault and ends up being humble. Hamlet starts up being indecisive and ends up being resolute. So a good character will always have a story. The smarter, the more humane, and more unpredictable you can make your lead characters, the more interesting the stories will be.

Q: Who鈥檚 your favorite character from the stories you wrote?

A: Dwayne in 鈥淟ittle Miss Sunshine鈥� is closest to who I was when I was in high school. I was Dwayne when I was in high school, without a vow in silence. He is so unhappy and has made a vow in silence. The first time anyone tries to talk to him, he just writes 鈥淚 hate everyone鈥� on paper. He鈥檚 this extreme character, and I didn鈥檛 know whether people would be understanding or sympathetic of him. But at certain point in life, everyone was at that point. They felt life is terrible, family is terrible, and they don鈥檛 want to talk to anyone.

In an odd way, it鈥檚 a very extreme character, but strangely, it鈥檚 also universal.

Q: How to become a good scriptwriter?

A: You have to fail a lot. There is no substitute. You can read all the books you want, and you can take all the classes you want, but there is no substitute for just sitting down and starting to write. I can make an analogy to surfing. You can watch surf videos, and you can read books about surfing, but you are never going to learn to surf unless you get on the board and paddle up in the ocean. It鈥檚 going to take a long time, but very slowly, you will get a little bit better, and if you do it for five or ten years, you can get very good at it.

David Magee

Q: How to become a Hollywood scriptwriter?

A: My pathway was completely different from other people. I abridged novels, which no one thought could make into a screenwriter. I also did all sorts of things that taught me how to write a script. I think the real answer is just keep writing, and keep meeting people in the business, working in a way related to the business, ask people you trust to read your scripts, and I believe if you are a good screen writer, if you really write a good screenplay, it will get out there.

In my case, I was performing some of my own writing in a small place, and I got the interest from somebody, who wanted me to write, I could not have predicted this. If you write good scripts, they will find you because they are desperate for good screenplays.

Q: So did the experience doing other jobs have an impact on your screenwriting?

A: I was poor and happy as an actor, not necessarily that successful and that experience helped with my script writing tremendously. I know what actors want to see on a page. They don鈥檛 want to hear about descriptions of how they should behave. They want to see characters trying to do things, make things happen, actions. They don鈥檛 need to be told how to perform, they need to be told what they are trying to achieve.

I always wanted to write, but I was always very shy about my writing, nervous about showing it to anyone, because writing to me is more personal. But after I started abridging novels, chopping up other people鈥檚 books, rearranging them, I realized I can鈥檛 be so proud about my own writing. And I got more courage to write and show to others. Sometimes it takes a long time to realize you are pretty good at this and this is what you should be doing. As soon as I started writing, that鈥檚 what I realized 鈥� this is what I should be doing!

Q: How was working with Ang Lee on 鈥淟ife of Pi?鈥� What was most difficult in the project?

A: I love working with him. The hardest part of the adaptation was finding the tone for the storytelling. In the book, there are a lot of discussions about religion and philosophy. In a film, that might feel dry if you don鈥檛 do it right. We were trying to find a unique way to engage the audience, to make them feel interesting without doing a documentary about different religions. And we tried many different ways.

Q: What has been your biggest setback as a screenwriter?

A: Usually it is my own fault, taking a project that I didn鈥檛 really have a passion for. Writing a screenplay is hard enough, getting it financed and produced can take very long time. 鈥淔inding Neverland鈥� took six and half years, and 鈥淟ife of Pi鈥� four and half. If you worry too much about whether the movie is going to be made or not, this or next year, you are just putting yourself in a misery.

So one main thing I have learned through these years is just to do things I really love, and sort of forget it existed, and wait for things to happen.

Q: You have worked in Hollywood as a scriptwriter for all these years, have you observed any significant changes in the industry?

A: When I was a kid, going to movies was what you did every weekend with your friends. In the last 20 years, we got television with 300 stations, videos on demand, 3D films, which all changed the business 鈥� changed the kind of films that are made to the cinema. Now writers have more freedom to explore in televisions. Televisions take more risks. Films have got more expensive to make, with 3D and big budget. It gets harder to get films made, so it gets harder to take chances.

Nicole Perlman

Q: How did you start writing 鈥淕uardians of the Galaxy?鈥�

A: I was one of the five writers in the Marvel writers program and we were told to choose one project each. I chose this one because I really liked sci-fi since I was little. Some of the other characters from the list available to us were probably better known, but that also means there will be more pressure to be true to the comics. With 鈥淕uardians of the Galaxy,鈥� it was so obscure, so they allowed me a lot of freedom to reinvent, and I liked that.

Q: You are working on 鈥淐aptain Marvel,鈥� how is it different writing superhero and superheroine?

A: There is not necessarily difference between male and female superheroes. It鈥檚 character specific.

鈥淐aptain Marvel鈥� is a very strong character, and the first female superhero that Marvel will be doing. I feel important to do a good job, not making her boring. She has to be an interesting character not just because she鈥檚 powerful, but also because she鈥檚 got a great personality.

In terms of audience expectation, there are lots of high stakes for doing a project about a female superhero, because there weren鈥檛 many. If it doesn鈥檛 do well in the box office, there won鈥檛 be movies about female superhero for a long time.

Q: You did a great job in 鈥淕uardians of the Galaxy,鈥� but there still aren鈥檛 that many women sci-fi script writers. Do you think that will change?

A: There aren鈥檛 as many women doing that, but I think that鈥檚 changing, the more women writing super hero, science fiction and adventure movies and get the projects to the screen, the stigma that women don鈥檛 write this type of things will change.

Q: Will you consider working in television?

A: There are a lot of opportunities there, and it鈥檚 also a very different world.

It is a good world for writers, who are treated in a very different way. They have a lot more power, whereas if you are film writer, unless you direct or produce it, you don鈥檛 really have that much of a say in what happens.

That鈥檚 why television is becoming so good now, it鈥檚 the best it has ever been, and it鈥檚 getting better than movies. Because they are taking risks, they are doing things that are very edgy, so many good writers are going towards televisions, because they know they can do things more creatively.

I will eventually go into television, but I鈥檓 also in a good place now in my career, and I鈥檒l keep doing that for a while.

Q: People always talk about Hollywood and formulas. Is that true and do these formulas still work?

A: There is always exception to the rule. The word formula has a negative connotation to it, but in general there are certain things that audience just want to see happen. It is also human nature to see twists in the story. If a movie starts for 30, 40, 45 minutes without anything happening, audience will be waiting for the story to start. So, yes, there is a formula, such as having a beginning, a middle and an end, but there are also so many different ways you can write a story that fits this.

Edward Ricourt

Q: How did you start writing?

A: At first, I wanted to write a love letter to a girl. I did all kinds of writing, from poems to short stories. I learned through writing and reading. Now you can find all these scripts on the Internet. I have read a lot of scripts of classic movies like 鈥淐asablanca鈥� and you can learn a lot about the structure, emotions, characters and many other things from these good movies. Of course I watch a lot of movies too.

And when I started writing my first script, I just couldn鈥檛 stop. It takes a lot of time and effort to write a good story. You have to read a lot of scripts. You have to make sure your story is attractive and touching. You have to write many drafts.

Q: What are some other ways one can learn about screenwriting?

A: It takes a lot of practice. Imagine you are a baby, when you make the first step, you don鈥檛 really know what is after that. Only after you have written a lot, you will know what you do well or not. Everyone has different talents. And I chose to write scripts. I pitch the stories to other people, and I get notes about the story from others. Maybe there are parts they love, maybe there are places where they don鈥檛 see it working. It鈥檚 very important to take notes, and learn from these feedbacks.

Q: How about pitching stories? Is that important too? Do you like doing it?

A: It鈥檚 part of the job as a screenwriter. It鈥檚 very important. You are not only pitching the story, you are pitching yourself. You have to be passionate about your story, not just like doing a job. There are many different ways to tell the story, and you have to find the best way to pitch.

Q: How did you start writing 鈥淣ow You See Me?鈥�

A: I had this idea: What would you do if you were a magician, and I had many ideas like robbing a bank. So I started writing the script, first by myself. Then Boaz Yakin and I worked on a script together before, and when we got reconnected, I showed him some of the pages on this, and we started working together on the story.