Michael Arndt Quotes

• The number one metaphor I have in my mind for writing a screenplay is that...you're trying to climb a mountain blindfolded. And the funny thing about that is, you think, 'Okay, that's hard because you're climbing up a rock face, and you don't know where you're going, and you don't know where the top is, you can't see what's below you...' But actually the hardest part about climbing a mountain blindfolded is just finding the mountain.

  Michael Arndt

  Writing, Thinking, Numbers

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• Every problem offers an opportunity for a solution. if you are in the right frame of mind to find it.

  Michael Arndt

  Opportunity, Mind, Self Improvement

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• We have the freedom to excel or inhibit our potential. You are the grand designer of your thoughts and emotions. At some level or another you are the one who chooses which thoughts to accept and which ones to ignore. That can be a very empower realization.

  Michael Arndt

  Empowering, Self Improvement, Realization

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• It drives me crazy when people say, "All we're trying to do is create entertainment." I feel like people go to movies for more than that.

  Michael Arndt

  Crazy, People, Trying

  Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com

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• In terms of writing characters or stories, at least initially, there's no difference between live-action and animation. A good story is a good story, whatever the medium.

  Michael Arndt

  Writing, Character, Differences

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• Failure can only exist from stagnant perceptions. Everything is a process of learning and if you learn something useful, you have success.

  Michael Arndt

  Perception, Self Improvement, Process

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• I like to begin every screenplay with a burst of delusional self-confidence. It tends to fade pretty quickly, but for me, at least, there doesn't seem to be any other way to start writing a script.

  Michael Arndt

  Writing, Self Confidence, Way

  "Michael Arndt Discusses Toy Story 3". Interview with Brian Gallagher, movieweb.com. November 2, 2010.

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• The best writing really does come from the deepest, most private part of you.

  Michael Arndt

  Writing, Doe, Private Parts

  "Michael Arndt Discusses Toy Story 3" by Brian Gallagher, movieweb.com. November 02, 2010.

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• Who you think you are is only a thought.

  Michael Arndt

  Thinking, Self Improvement, Improvement

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• All thought is created, therefore we are all creators of whatever world we live in.

  Michael Arndt

  Self Improvement, World, Improvement

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• Changing how you think costs you no money and it takes no special talent. It does take a commitment on your part to be different.

  Michael Arndt

  Commitment, Thinking, Special

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• You never want your second act or the whole movie to just be this relentless march towards its goal. You want things to take the audience by surprise.

  Michael Arndt

  Goal, Want, March

  "Michael Arndt Digs Into ‘Toy Story 3’ and the Genius of the Pixar System". Interview with Anne Thompson, www.indiewire.com. December 07, 2010.

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• One of my favorite films is LATE SPRING by Yasujiro Ozu. To me, it represents film as art.

  Michael Arndt

  Art, Spring, Film

  "Michael Arndt Discusses Toy Story 3" by Brian Gallagher, movieweb.com. November 02, 2010.

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• I had read enough mediocre scripts and was determined not to inflict another one on the world.

  Michael Arndt

  World, Scripts, Determined

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• My God, there are so many mediocre screenplays out there.

  Michael Arndt

  Mediocre, Screenplays

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• The great thing about the animation process is that is goes from, I write the lines, it goes to the actors, the actors bring a whole world to that, they bring the characters to life, then it goes to the animators, then it goes to the editor who cuts it together, and then you screen it and it goes back through the system again.

  Michael Arndt

  Writing, Character, Cutting

  "Michael Arndt Digs Into 'Toy Story 3' and the Genius of the Pixar System". Interview with Anne Thompson, www.indiewire.com. December 7, 2010.

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• Line up your thoughts up for potential, take action and success will follow.

  Michael Arndt

  Self Improvement, Lines, Action

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• A good story is a good story, whatever the medium.

  Michael Arndt

  Stories, Mediums, Good Story

  "Toy Story 3′ screenwriter talks toys with the Daily". Interview with Lorrayne Shen, tuftsdaily.com. November 4, 2010.

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• I can write two scripts concurrently, but I usually prefer to do one at a time. However, I also usually have 5 or 6 story ideas that are percolating in my head at any one time, so it can get a little crowded in there.

  Michael Arndt

  Writing, Ideas, Two

  "Michael Arndt Discusses Toy Story 3". Interview with Brian Gallagher, movieweb.com. November 2, 2010.

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• Writing a great script - not just a good one, but a great one - is almost an impossible task.

  Michael Arndt

  Writing, Tasks, Scripts

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• I figured I’d probably write 50 scripts in my life. Out of those 50, I figured maybe five would be produced, and that maybe one or two would be successful. So I always kind of expected I’d write at least one successful film in my life. [...] The way it all came together was kind of like Murphy's law in reverse—I don’t expect that kind of experience again any time soon.

  Michael Arndt

  Writing, Successful, Law

  "Family Values". Interview with Jennifer M. Wood, www.moviemaker.com. February 3, 2007.

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• The fluidity of thought is based on the flexibility of beliefs and the emotional boundaries surrounding them.

  Michael Arndt

  Emotional, Self Improvement, Fluidity

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• If you write a bunch of different characters with a bunch of different opinions, you end up with these long scenes of everyone standing around talking.

  Michael Arndt

  Writing, Character, Talking

  "Michael Arndt Digs Into ‘Toy Story 3’ and the Genius of the Pixar System". Interview with Anne Thompson, www.indiewire.com. December 07, 2010.

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• In live-action, writing, production and editing happen in discrete stages. In animation, they overlap - happening simultaneously. This allows a real dialogue to occur between the writer, the director, the actors and the editor, and it makes the writing process a lot more collaborative and a lot less lonely.

  Michael Arndt

  Lonely, Real, Writing

  "Toy Story 3′ screenwriter talks toys with the Daily". Interview with Lorrayne Shen, tuftsdaily.com. November 4, 2010.

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• Working at Pixar has been like my graduate school for screenwriting.

  Michael Arndt

  School, Graduates, Pixar

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