Billy Wilder’s top tips for budding screenwriters
The classic era of Hollywood gave birth to some of the greatest works of cinema ever made, and Billy Wilder, an Austrian-born filmmaker, was the master behind many. Born in 1906, Wilder began writing screenplays in the 1930s, releasing his directorial debut in 1934 with Mauvaise Graine.
Throughout the following decades, Wilder found success as a screenwriter and director, earning his first Academy Award nomination for ‘Best Screenplay’ after penning Ninotchka. He was awarded his first ‘Best Director’ nomination after helming his stylish noir Double Indemnity, although his first win wouldn’t come until a year later with 1945’s The Lost Weekend.
Wilder earned seven Academy Awards as a writer and director and became known for iconic movies ranging from Sunset Boulevard and Some Like It Hot to Sabrina and The Apartment. While Wilder was an accomplished director, his writing really elevated his films to greater heights. Witty dialogue was essential to his work, and his storylines were always addictively entertaining.
Thus, many film fans and critics have cited Wilder as one of – if not the greatest – screenwriter of all time. He never overcomplicated his screenplays, yet they were never predictable or derivative. Instead, Wilder made sure that his narratives were easy enough to understand so that audiences would be firmly captivated by the events on screen and subsequently attached to the characters through his incredible ability to develop complex, well-written parts. He was also known for his distinctive sense of humour, which he injected into every script.
The director once shared his ten tips for writing good screenplays in Cameron Crowe’s Conversations with Wilder – words of advice all budding filmmakers should take note of. His first two tips are “the audience is fickle” and “Grab ’em by the throat and never let ’em go”. Clearly, keeping in mind your audience is of vital importance, and it is essential to transfix them immediately. Additionally, Wilder’s seventh tip, inspired by Ernst Lubitsch, “Let the audience add up two plus two. They’ll love you forever,” emphasises this nicely.
Next up, “Develop a clean line of action for your leading character” and know where you’re going” – there’s nothing worse than a meandering plotline that doesn’t quite know what it is trying to say or do.
The director also insists that “the more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.” This is exactly why Wilder’s movies worked so well – he didn’t throw everything out in the open, subsequently creating sophisticated and expertly layered scripts. This led him to add, “If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.”
He shared two more tips related to the importance of each act, suggesting, “The event that occurs at the second act curtain triggers the end of the movie” and “The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then — that’s it. Don’t hang around.” For Wilder, each act has its distinctive function, and it is the writer’s job to use them as effectively as possible to make their film as enjoyable and well-paced as can be.
One last piece of advice from the cinematic maestro: “In doing voice-overs, be careful not to describe what the audience already sees. Add to what they’re seeing.” These tips helped Wilder become one of the most influential filmmakers of all time, providing future writers with vital points of reference through his consistently impressive body of work.
