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The work of the director is the work of constructing the shot list from the script.

David Mamet

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David Mamet
Age: 77
Born: 1947
Born: November 30
Actor
Author
Film Director
Film Producer
Novelist
Playwright
Poet
Screenwriter
Television Producer
Theatrical Director
Writer
Chicago
Illinois
David Alen Mamet
David Alan Mamet
Scripts
Shot
Director
Shots
Directors
Constructing
Work
List
Script
Lists

More quotes by David Mamet

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Make the audience wonder what's going on by putting them in the same position as the protagonist.
David Mamet
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Any time two characters are talking about a third, the scene is a crock of s***.
David Mamet
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People ask me, 'What do you do?' And I tell them I'm a writer, but always with the silent reservation, 'I am, of course, not really a writer. Hemingway was a writer.'
David Mamet
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When the three branches of government have failed to represent the citizenry and the mass of the media has failed to represent the citizenry, then the citizenry better represent the citizenry.
David Mamet
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I like Bach. I like Randy Newman.
David Mamet
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Characters on stage, like people in what we refer to as real life, do not speak to reveal themselves. They do not speak to conceal themselves. They speak to get whatever it is that they want. It is the only reason they speak.
David Mamet
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You know, young actors say all the time, 'Should I use my own life experience?' And my response is, 'What choice do you have?'
David Mamet
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The mind is a mill which can incessant turn, 'til its mere operation focus the stress inward and the stones grind themselves to dust.
David Mamet
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If the scene bores you when you read it, rest assured it WILL bore the actors, and will then bore the audience, and we're all going to be back in the breadline.
David Mamet
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The correct unit of study is not the play it is the scene.
David Mamet
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Always do things the least interesting way, the most blunt way, and you make a better movie. This is my experience.
David Mamet
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Don't write stage directions. If it is not apparent what the character is trying to accomplish by saying the line, tell us how the character said it or whether or not she moved to the couch isn't going to aid the case.
David Mamet
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Put. That coffee. Down. Coffee's for closers only.
David Mamet
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My alma mater is the Chicago Public Library.
David Mamet
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If, indeed, a firearm were more dangerous to its possessors than to potential aggressors, would it not make sense for the government to arm all criminals, and let them accidentally shoot themselves? Is this absurd? Yes, and yet the government, of course, is arming criminals.
David Mamet
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Here is a sovereign talisman against regret: never do that which might engender it.
David Mamet
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They say the definition of ambivalence is watching your mother-in-law drive over a cliff in your new Cadillac.
David Mamet
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Every scene should be able to answer three questions: Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don't get it? Why now?
David Mamet
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My idea of perfect happiness is a healthy family, peace between nations, and all the critics die.
David Mamet
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Train yourself for a profession that does not exist.
David Mamet