Ernest Lehman
Ernest Lehman
Ernest Paul Lehmanwas an American screenwriter. He received six Academy Award nominations during his career, without a single win. At the 73rd Academy Awards in 2001, he received an Honorary Academy Award for his ingenious and influential works for the screen that has inspired new generations of screenwriters and captivated filmmakers, actors, film critics, and audiences by the beauty of his screenwriting. He was the first screenwriter to receive that honor. The award was presented to him by friend and...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionScreenwriter
Date of Birth8 December 1915
CountryUnited States of America
Ernest Lehman quotes about
Pictures are written, acted, directed, photographed, edited, scored and all that. The screenwriter determines what scenes are in and what scenes are out; decides whether that bit of information is dramatized or just referred to; whether it takes place on or off screen. There are millions of decisions made by the screenwriter.
After all, the wool of a black sheep is just as warm.
You have to understand that people feel threatened by a writer. It's very curious. He knows something they don't know. He knows how to write, and that's a subtle, disturbing quality he has. Some directors without even knowing it, resent the writer in the same way Bob Hope might resent the fact he ain't funny without twelve guys writing the jokes. The director knows the script he is carrying around on the set every day was written by someone, and that's just not something that all directors easily digest.
But it is not at all unthinkable for anyone to tell a writer how to write. It comes with the territory.
Only grown-up men are scared of women.
One of the tricks is to have the exposition conveyed in a scene of conflict, so that a character is forced to say things you want the audience to know - as, for example, if he is defending himself against somebody's attack, his words of defense seem Justified even though his words are actually expository words. Something appears to be happening, so the audience believes it is witnessing a scene (which it is), not listening to expository speeches. Humor is another way of getting exposition across.