"There's no better satisfaction than writing. I feel that writing is the best and everything else comes with it"
About this Quote
Writing, for Garry Marshall, isn’t a hobby or a classy badge of seriousness; it’s the engine room. The line has the blunt confidence of someone who’s spent a lifetime in show business watching careers rise on charisma and crash on thin material. When he says “everything else comes with it,” he’s quietly demoting the glamour jobs - acting, directing, even the mythology of “talent” - to downstream effects of a solid page.
The intent reads as both creed and corrective. Marshall came up through comedy writing and story construction, a pipeline that teaches you a hard truth: laughter and romance look effortless only when the scaffolding is invisible. By framing writing as “the best,” he’s staking a claim against the industry’s obsession with performance as the highest art. It’s also a subtle piece of self-preservation. In a business where you’re constantly being cast, judged, and replaced, writing is the one satisfaction that can’t be taken away by a bad audition or a studio note. You control it, and control is a rare drug in Hollywood.
The subtext is almost managerial: if you can write, you can make opportunities instead of waiting for them. Scripts become leverage, identity, and insurance policy at once. Marshall’s phrasing is simple, even a little absolute, because he’s not trying to sound profound - he’s telling you where the power actually sits. In the end, it’s less a romantic ode to creativity than a pragmatic argument for authorship: be the person who builds the world, and the world will build back.
The intent reads as both creed and corrective. Marshall came up through comedy writing and story construction, a pipeline that teaches you a hard truth: laughter and romance look effortless only when the scaffolding is invisible. By framing writing as “the best,” he’s staking a claim against the industry’s obsession with performance as the highest art. It’s also a subtle piece of self-preservation. In a business where you’re constantly being cast, judged, and replaced, writing is the one satisfaction that can’t be taken away by a bad audition or a studio note. You control it, and control is a rare drug in Hollywood.
The subtext is almost managerial: if you can write, you can make opportunities instead of waiting for them. Scripts become leverage, identity, and insurance policy at once. Marshall’s phrasing is simple, even a little absolute, because he’s not trying to sound profound - he’s telling you where the power actually sits. In the end, it’s less a romantic ode to creativity than a pragmatic argument for authorship: be the person who builds the world, and the world will build back.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
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