Write, write, write

John Logan is hugely successful and no doubt one of the most versatile screenwriters around. Where most in the business suggest the usual path to get into screenwriting - watch movies, analyze movies, learn from the pros and always write - Logan's secret is different - dive into literature first.

Words, words, words ... (wrong play, I know, I know)

John Logan is behind such films as Gladiator, Hugo, Coriolanus, Any Given Sunday, Rango and The Last Samurai. If that isn't bloody versatile enough for you, he's also writing the next James Bond installment, Skyfall! But before all of his screenwriting glory he started out, at the age of eighteen, as a playwright. Theater was his world and still is his passion - one of the main reasons why he got together with Ralph Fiennes to do Coriolanus.

"Focus on literature first, through the centuries, read it and read it all ... and then watch some movies." 

Logan loves language, the playwright in him fights to balance language and visuals in film. He understands film but sees a danger of language being devalued. He doesn't shy away from words, monologues, big lines - in fact, he looks for the epic lines like Maximus' "On my signal, unleash hell."

He was fortunate to start his screenwriting journey in the company of Oliver Stone on Any Given Sunday where he learnt a great deal about the craft. He developed Aviator together with Michael Mann, not exactly bad company either. And while working on Gladiator, Ridley Scott added invaluable screenwriting advice when he told Logan: "Write less words."

John Logan shares lots of nuggets in the Bafta Guru lectures series, where he participated in September 2011. Personally, this lecture wasn't as inspiring as some of the others - still - definitely worth watching. It should at the very least make you want to pick up some of the classics! Also take the time to read the transcript (follow above link for video and transcript) as it goes into greater depth.