We all not only could know everything. We do. We just tell ourselves we don't to make it all bearable.
Get into the scene late; get out of the scene early.
Every scene should be able to answer three questions: "Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don't get it? Why now?
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.
One person may need (or want) more leisure, another more work; one more adventure, another more security, and so on. It is this diversity that makes a country, indeed a state, a city, a church, or a family, healthy. 'One-size-fits-all,' and that size determined by the State has a name, and that name is 'slavery. '
Forget narrative, backstory, characterisation, exposition, all of that. Just make the audience want to know what happens next.
The main question in drama, the way I was taught, is always, 'What does the protagonist want?' That's what drama is. It comes down to that. It's not about theme, it's not about ideas, it's not about setting, but what the protagonist wants.
Your success and happiness depend on your willingness to help others solve their problems.
In a play, you can adjust your performance to audience reaction, but in a film it's like you're trapped in a bad dream watching yourself act and you're in the audience
My life is better with every year of living it.
At risk of sounding foully pompous I think that writers' groups are probably very useful at the beginning of a writing career.