The French Have A Phrase

He Looked About As Inconspicuous As A Tarantula On A Slice Of Angel Food.

Hollywood Is A Showman's Paradise. But Showmen Make Nothing; They Exploit What Someone Else Has Made. The Publisher And The Play Producer Are Showmen Too; But They Exploit What Is Already Made. The Showmen Of Hollywood Control The Making - And Thereby Degrade It. For The Basic Art Of Motion Pictures Is The Screenplay; It Is Fundamental, Without It There Is Nothing. Everything Derives From The Screenplay, And Most Of That Which Derives Is An Applied Skill Which, However Adept, Is Artistically Not In The Same Class With The Creation Of A Screenplay.

Dashiell Hammett Took Murder Out Of Thevenetian Vase And Dropped It Into The Alley.

He Was A Guy Who Talked With Commas, Like A Heavy Novel. Over The Phone Anyway.

The Most Durable Thing In Writing Is Style, And Style Is The Single Most Valuable Investment A Writer Can Make With His Time.