"No self respecting producer should ever rely on the writer for personality and ease. (Notable exceptions are some comedy writers, who are like stand up comedians. This brings to mind the perennial question: If the pitch is funny will the script necessarily be funny? Hard-learned answer: No.) First of all, the writer is likely to be the only person in the room more nervous than the producer. Second, his talent is often in inverse proportion to his ability to pitch -read: schmooze. Consider the almost axiomatic observation: Good writers pitch badly and bad writers pitch well. The exceptions -the good writers who pitch well- are a function of gifted personality. They're charming. They are often the most highly paid, more often future directors. A tip: Writers for whom solutions come too quickly are suspect. This is "producerthink". The writer should know that the solution to a story is supposed to be harder than that".

Linda Obst, "Hello, he lied"