Jim Burnstein (Love and Honor, D3: The Mighty Ducks, Renaissance Man ) discusses his screenwriting career and shaping the next generation of young writers at UofM

We Talk About:

• Working in Hollywood while living in Michigan
• The journey to the first feature film production
• Teaching Shakespeare to soldiers and Renaissance Man
• The importance of re-writing your screenplay
• The value of talent versus the value of discipline
• Taking notes on your writing and giving notes to others
• Collaborating with a writing partner

Quotes from the Show:

"The best thing about being a writer is you can write on the moon. You don't have to wait for somebody to give you a job. It only takes one great script to get you in the game."

"I do not believe that you can teach talent any more than you can teach speed. A good track coach can make you faster, but he can't make you fast."

"I look at the first draft like a dream. You don't know what it means. You don't know why you wrote it. That's what the process of discovery is. Why did you tell this story? What is it about it that you emotionally connected to?"

"If you're playing defense as a writer, you're going to lose."

"Teaching is the job that keeps me sane. Writing is a little bit of a lonely job. It's you and your imagination, and that's great, but you want to be with people. You are more fundamentally sound when you're teaching others because it makes you more aware of what you need to do."

"Human beings, if nothing else, are natural storytellers and consumers."