Writers thread: there are screenwriters here who hold that dialog should be sacrificed for the "more important" aspects of storytelling. This MAY be true. But often it is not. I know it was Spike Lee's dialog that made me watch She's Gotta Have it 3 times in a row in the theater.

And the Roast Beef scene in Diner by Barry Levinson reveals the character. Dialog has always been my obsession and way into stories. I memorized entire scenes and monologues just for fun. It's what mattered to me.

Someone else may really are about action sequences. And another may respond mostly to surprising twists and turns. All are valid. Just execute at the highest level you can. Write your obsessions.

Make every page compelling. And yes, some exec will tell you to trim the dialog. But don't just do it because you think you are supposed to.

All these years later, when someone wants to tell me something they like about the work, it is usually by quoting lines to me -- throwaway moments that David and I put in there because they made us smile.

Take criticism. Use the good parts. Throw out the rest. Yes. Kill your darlings - The second that seems like the right idea to you to make your thing better by your standards. That's it. That's the rule.