Quote from Leigh Brackett

The other night I watched for the first time a 59 minute Republic horror effort called THE VAMPIRE'S GHOST (1943). I picked it up on Blu-Ray out of curiosity and because I love the cheaper chillers from that period. I was shocked to realize that it was at least co-written by the amazing Leigh Brackett and that it seems to be her first official screen credit. Sadly, the film is pretty weak even with an interesting take on vampirism and some occasionally good dialog. When I looked up Miss Brackett's credits to verify her attachment to this film I came across this excellent quote from her -

"They were all collaborations. The filmmaking process is a team effort. A screenwriter cannot possibly do exactly what he wants, as if he was writing a novel. When I write a novel I am God at my own typewriter and there is nobody in between. But when I write a screenplay it must be a compromise because there are so many elements which are outside the writer's province."

That sums up so much of the mercurial nature of film-making and expresses the futility of being too precious about the work. James Cameron once used the analogy of 'Everyone pissing into the same bucket' to describe the collaborative process of screenwriting. Sounds like they were on the same page.