When you think of the greatest screenwriters in Hollywood history, Billy Wilder always makes the list — usually right near the top. And rightly so. Not only was he a masterful screenwriter, he was also one of the greatest directors ever to step behind a camera. He proved, film after film, that you can be smart, witty, daring, and still delight audiences around the world.

Wilder often wrote with the brilliant I.A.L. Diamond, and together they gave us screenplays like Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, and Kiss Me, Stupid. If those titles don’t ring a bell, I strongly suggest you stop reading these Billy Wilder screenwriting tips, open Netflix (or your DVD shelf if you’re old-school), and do a little catching up. You can thank me later.

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A Master of Subtext, Structure, and Style

What makes Billy Wilder’s screenwriting so enduring is how he balanced razor-sharp wit with deep, human truths. His characters could be hilariously flawed or heartbreakingly real — sometimes both in the same scene. He understood structure better than anyone, but never let the audience see the strings. As he said: “The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.”

Wilder was also known for never underestimating the audience. He trusted them to connect the dots, to pick up on innuendo, to get the joke without the punchline being explained. That’s why his scripts still feel fresh today — they give the viewer credit for being smart.

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College Nights with Billy Wilder

When I was in college, while my classmates were busy partying or pretending to be poets in coffee houses, I was at my school library digging through old screenplays and interviews with filmmakers I worshipped. One of my favorite books was Conversations with Wilder by Cameron Crowe. It’s just Wilder being candid, cranky, brilliant, and brutally honest — every page is a mini masterclass.

Before I sit down to write scripts — like the new ones I’m working on for iSpotSanta’s sixth year — I revisit these Billy Wilder screenwriting tips. They’re my ritual: a ten-point checklist that reminds me what matters. These rules never get old. If anything, they get more important every time I type FADE IN.

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Billy Wilder’s 10 Screenwriting Tips

Here they are — the ten tips every screenwriter (and honestly, every storyteller) should tattoo on their brain:

1. The audience is fickle.
2. Grab ‘em by the throat and never let ‘em go.
3. Develop a clean line of action for your leading character.
4. Know where you’re going.
5. The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.
6. If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.
7. A tip from Lubitsch: Let the audience add up two plus two. They’ll love you forever.
8. In doing voice-overs, be careful not to describe what the audience already sees. Add to what they’re seeing.
9. The event that occurs at the second act curtain triggers the end of the movie.
10. The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then — that’s it. Don’t hang around.

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Billy Wilder on Directing It on the Page

Here’s an extra gem from Conversations with Wilder by Cameron Crowe. It shows how Billy Wilder thought about screenwriting as directing on paper — a smart reminder that your script is your blueprint.

Excerpt comes from pages 129–130:

CC: Is a lot of the directing done in your head, as you write it?

BW: Yeah, if I write it. I’m never stuck because I have an empty exit of a character who comes to talk to somebody sitting at the desk, and he leaves. I always have enough dialogue to cover an exit. Not a lot of dead air. There are no long explanations [in my scripts]. I just have a scene — scene 73, the scene plays in somebody’s house. That’s it. The last thing I do is divide it then into shots, into camera moves. The last thing I do is to figure out, where do I put the camera? First you have to have it on paper.

This is a masterclass in trusting your words first and not hiding behind fancy camera moves until the story is solid.

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Why Billy Wilder Screenwriting Tips Still Matter

Read that list again — every line is gold. These aren’t dusty old Hollywood clichés; they’re timeless truths. Wilder’s ideas have shaped everyone from Cameron Crowe to the Coen Brothers to Nora Ephron. His influence is everywhere: in snappy dialogue, twisty plots, unexpected laughs, and scenes that stick with you decades later.

He knew what many forget: a screenplay isn’t just clever lines on paper — it’s a blueprint for a movie that must grab people by the heart, make them lean forward, and reward them for paying attention.

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A Final Note from Mr. Wilder (and Me)

Billy Wilder once said, “If you’re going to tell people the truth, be funny or they’ll kill you.” That might be the best bonus tip of all.

So whether you’re about to start your first short film, your next big feature, or just the world’s longest grocery list, take a moment. Read these Billy Wilder screenwriting tips, learn them, and live by them. The audience is fickle, but a good story, told well, lasts forever.