Gary Ross on screenwriters

People put an expectation on themselves at the start of the outlining process that the story should be fully formed the minute they think of the premise. But you wouldn'’t get mad at yourself for being on page 10 when you begin writing the screenplay instead of page a hundred. That'’s because the progress at ththe screenwritingng stage is linear. But because the progress in an outline is nonlinear, people get frustrated with themselves for not being done when they'vve only just started. Then they utter the most dangerous line in all filmmakinging: I'll figure it out when I write."