One of my mottos: the screenplay is perfect; it’s the writer that has problems.

Of course, the screenplay usually is not perfect – on the page.

The point I try to get across to writers is that the screenplay’s limitations usually reflect the limitations of their own grasp of the material and of craft.

Everyone will nod their heads and agree with this, but it's a radical idea. When people try to fix a screenplay, they generally charge in with a list of problems, treating the "problems" as isolated, mechanical issues. More active protagonist! Stronger climax! Yet often, the more "fixes" that are applied, the more problems appear. The sad fact is that, even with the best intentions of those involved, many screenplays get worse through the process of "creative development."

Craft should not be a yardstick to beat the screenplay with. Craft is a tool the writer applies to herself, to release the screenplay.

The development of a screenplay requires mastery in so many areas: grasp of human behavior, constructing logical sequences of cause and effect, thinking visually, and so on. And each individual screenplay brings its own particular demands.

Yet we all have weaknesses as well as strengths, and it is inevitable that our weaknesses will encompass some of the areas in which our screenplay demands skillful work.

The writer’s tendency is to treat the resulting shortcomings as problems of the screenplay, and attempt to solve them using the wrong tools, i.e. misapplying his strengths – rather than strengthening his weaknesses. Like so many of our characters, we resist growth.

The problems in a screenplay tend to reflect a writer's creative biases. A hammer is an essential tool for the carpenter, but it's not the only one. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When I ask neophyte writers how they perceive the strengths and weaknesses of their story, most often the perceived weaknesses are exactly the things that need the least work, because the writer has already paid the most attention to them. The real problems are completely outside his awareness.

When the screenwriter grows, it is into mastery of craft, and it is craft itself, as embodied in his screenplay, which instructs him.

Craft is a body of techniques. The purpose of technique is to educate (bring forth knowledge from within) the mind and heart of the creator. Correct use of tools eventually leads to their transcendence. The carpenter must first learn how to effectively wield a hammer, but soon this requires no focused attention. In the meantime the hammer has taught him to apply the decisiveness, firmness and precision which are the qualities of a well-constructed cabinet. Thus, the cabinet makes the carpenter, as well as vice versa.

The perfect screenplay exists within the writer’s psyche. It’s a shadowy image towards which the writer is struggling. This is because the story has a life of its own, but at this point that life is not separate from the writer. The master uses craft to find this perfect screenplay.