An essay by James Vanderbilt on making 'Nuremberg' and the anxiety that comes with every screenplay

THE PANIC USUALLY SETS IN AROUND Page 40.

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I've been writing movies for a while, and it's always the same for me. It's not like how we portray it in movies it's not a tortured writer staring at a blank page or a blinking cursor after typing FADE IN. For me it's reaching Page 40 and realizing that what happens there should be happening on Page 4. And that's when the self-doubt, self-flagellation and internal recriminations begin. On Page 40.

On "Nuremberg" it happened much earlier.

Screenwriters are essentially confidence men and women. We go to the producers or the studios and boldly announce, with absolute conviction, "This has to be a movie!" "I know how to write this movie!" And "I'm the only one who should write this movie!" And then, if we're lucky enough to have them say yes, we go home and sit down and say "Now, how the hell do I write this movie?"

And if there's no studio, it's even worse.

You have to con yourself into doing it. You have to convince yourself that not only is this a story worth telling, not only are you the one who should be telling it, but that you can make it sing.