10 Screenwriting Tips from Paul Schrader - Writer of Taxi Driver 

Then when producers inevitably give you notes, all that work will have been for nothing.

What process do you use to get to know your characters?

Knowing your characters is a good habit. Take it one step further. Get rid of the characters. Put people in your story. Scrap the main character and put your dad in the story. Put your sister in there. Your least favorite high school English teacher. Combine the people in your life to create a new person. People are different than characters. They are illogical, unpredictable, emotional, confusing and complex. Whether they are fictional or not isn't the point. Whether they are alive or not isn't the point. They are alive in your head and that's all that matters. Here is what I tell writers: Think about the people in your dreams. Do you refer to them as characters? No, because they, in some strange cosmic way, have their own life. They are not created to push a plot like a character is. They are people with their own hopes and dreams and worries. A person and a character are as different as a theme park ride made up to look like a swampy forest and an actual swampy forest. Ask yourself, if you were to film a scene in a swampy forest, would you rather film in on a set, or go to the real thing? Same thing with people. Why stuff your story full of characters when the world is filled with people?

You really made me laugh. I read your comment in part 2 of his advice and thought the same… I admire his work, though. Great writer, great director.

The full phrase was "Letting the mystery be." Like letting something be

Screenwriting hasn't gotten any better. In fact, it's worse. Read Preston Sturges or Robert Towne. Now read some woke bullshit. Decide for yourself.

A classic like Taxi Driver is timeless

@@mchammer1836a masterpiece!

​@@theexpresidents Coverfly is filled with woke crap, I submitted my script obviously not selected but when i went through the synopsis of the quarterfinal scripts, most of them were woke.