Michael Arndt's success story is almost a fairy tale. However, as much as luck is indispensable, so is hard work. He mentioned in one of his interviews, he's a believer of a mantra that in order to achieve the mastery of any skill one has to spend 10,000 hours practicing it. He spent that many hours reading and studying scripts as his job as a script-reader before writing Little Miss Sunshine. Would look forward to more posts on Arndt. Thank you.

I simply adore the fact that "failing repeatedly" is such a huge part of the success of Pixar's films. Failing is the "easy" and necessary part of what we do. It's a common thread, a trait we all share. Whenever I meet a screenwriter who exudes 'first draft bravado,' I have to shake my head sadly. Because they just don't get it. (Also because they remind me of me, 20 years ago.) I'm nearing completion on the first draft of a new for-hire indie horror film. Let's hope it's "the worst thing one might ever see!" ;)

[...] writing the screenplay? Maybe we can take a clue from his thoughts about Toy Story 3, as related at Go Into the Story by Scott Myers (spotted via Lightsaber Rattling): “People say that writing is re-writing,” he [...]