Towne Quotes

This is a good moment to comment on the cottage industry that has sprung up around "How To" ... Screenwriting manuals. I think of this because Towne`s script (Chinatown) is often cited as a great template (which it is) but, invariably, with no understanding or acknowledgment of the role film editing has in shaping a finished work. So any discussion that omits this issue shows a palpable lack of experience in the actual making of films on the part of the scriptwriting teacher/author.

We showcased a utterly immoral, grotesquely greedy, decadent society that we felt was imminent.- On making Shampoo (1975) with Warren Beatty and Robert Towne

Bradley has done a good job and he`s earned the right to play, ... That doesn`t mean there`s not competition there. We`d like to get Pete Towne some time too.