Quentin Tarantino Explains How He Writes Dialogue

Quentin Tarantino reveals the writers who have influenced him the most in regards to creating his personal style for dialogue as part of a SiriusXM Town Hall event, explaining that "...when it comes to my dialogue, I think the three writers that affected it the most as far as a genuine influence, would probably be a combination of Elmore Leonard, David Mamet and Richard Pryor...I think those were actual conscious influences in me finding my voice and my dialogue and character voices and stuff."

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[wonderstorms]

i love how down to earth tarantino is while at the same time incredibly blunt, he doesnt put on this whole fake modesty thing and can actually acknowledge when hes good at something, i respect that

[thanksfernuthin]

That's an outstanding idea. Writing scenes from memory when you get home and eventually tailoring them and adding to them. Starting with a blank page and creating a scene is impossibly daunting for most people. I'm blown away by this idea.

[imsa]

Quentin, you are one strange, goofy, brilliant, dude. I can't help but think of his bar scene in Inglorious Basterds. Some of his best writing.

[valhalla]

I can never stop watching Tarantino's hands when he's talking. Because he looks like a fierce and stoic person, but he has the hands of a fragile nerd and it warms my heart to see the combination of both.

[RagnarokMic]

First, he writes the n-word hundreds of times, then he separates them with clever banter.

[ejrosenthal]

Quentin's dialog writing is incomparable. How can I watch these scenes over and over and over? Because they're that good. I'd rather watch two QT characters in a diner have a conversation for thirty minutes than just about ANYTHING else onscreen.

[jonathanlocke]

I remember seeing "Pulp Fiction" in the theatre for the first time, and how revelatory the "Royale with cheese" scene was. It just seemed like a real, casual, but interesting, often funny, conversation. Later, it was hard to imagine someone could have actually "written" that. I think it was the little commonplace asides, like "I don't know. I didn't go into Burger King", that made it seem so real...

[SoldierUSA]

A great example of how just a LITTLE BIT of support in someones life can make all the difference.

For all we Mr Tarantino hadn't get that comment, we might not have the awesomeness of Pulp Fiction or Hateful 8 today.

[HeresaBanana]

I looked away from the screen at 3:21 and thought he started beat boxing.

[victorallencook]

My dialog is going smoothly, very smooth today . I really love my story.

[siriusxm]

Quentin Tarantino shares the writers that influenced his personal "voice".

The list might surprise you.

[probablyhuman]

omg I love how he says "genuine." Gen-U-ine. I weep with joy.

[abdulkhafidsulaymaan]

This dude is the reason why I really started wanting to be a writer- I mean on a serious level. It was back in 2005-06, I was in prison, on my bunk watching Pulp Fiction for the first time and it was like reading a book but watching it. I was captivated. His style was simply direct to an extreme that it came off as genuine and real. This dude gave me a new found respect for simple delivery that it is my signature til this day. The way he would introduce each part of his movie as a chapter- I still do that today.

I've always been intrigued by this dude's dialog. I really don't believe he writes dialog all by himself for each actor/character in his movies. I think the actors help him because the dialog is so specific for each character.

[jeffwalker]

If you do a shot of tequila every time Quentin says "Paddy Chayefsky" you can get pretty buzzed in three minutes and twenty-seven seconds.

[missingenue]

My favorite filmmaker. I have so much respect for him <3

[ckaz]

Paddy Chayefsky was one of the great screenwriters. If anyone has not seen Network, I would highly recommend it. He predicted reality television back in 1976. 

I see Quentin's influence of Richard Pryor in the number of times he uses the N-word.

[rigsby]

When you read an Elmore Leonard book you can't help but picture it in the QT universe. Very similar style.

[a_literal_brick]

His voice is about 2 octaves higher than you'd expect from looking at him

[enzocignetti]

That’s crazy that not only is Ronnie Coleman one of the most badass bodybuilders of all time but his influence is also the reason we have Tarantino films

[crimsonmask]

Tarantino's real gift is plotting. He thinks it's dialogue, but actually all his characters have his one, singular, voice. It can be a fun voice when he's got a good plot-driven scene going as well, but if we're stuck with a tangential Tarantino monologue coming out of multiple characters like the middle bit of Death Proof, it is not so good.

I didn't notice this until several movies in, but after that, going back I can see it even in Reservoir Dogs (which is still a great film).