Screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade confirm they are leaving the 007 franchise

Press Release
Doha, Qatar; November 19, 2012: As Skyfall becomes the most successful Bond film in its 23 film history, British screenwriting duo Neal Purvis and Robert Wade took part in a master class at the fourth Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) to lift the lid on writing for one of the iconic film franchises of all time.

�When we were originally asked to come in to meet the Bond people, we weren�t expecting to be walking straight into a meeting with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson� said Neal Purvis, describing the moment they first started collaborating with franchise�s producers. �Usually there are many other layers of people that stop you getting to the head honchos and we certainly were not expecting to be kept around for 15 years�

�When we met Eon Productions, only two of our screenplays had been made into films. It just seemed preposterous to us that they wouldn�t have other writers on the project� added Robert Wade. �But they�d read a few of our other scripts and liked our sense of character and action. If there�s action without a story or a character angle, then it�s just boring.�

Meeting at 22, the pair who has been writing together for 28 years wrote their first script during the Los Angeles Olympic Games.

�The British Film industry in 1984 was not in a great shape. We�d write pop video�s to make extra money,� said Purvis. �The tragedy is we were getting paid in the 80�s what screenwriters are still being paid today�

Since then, they�ve written a total of 41 scripts, with ten being made into films. Wade said �We were told don�t expect anymore than one in ten of your screen plays to be made. She was right. We thought yes, that�s probably true, however that won�t apply to us.�

�Now were on our 41st script and have have ten films made. You wouldn�t write each day if you didn�t believer that your scripts were going to be made,� added Purvis.

Addressing the production delays this latest outing, the duo shed light on how important this additional time was �We benefited from the delays as we hadn�t gotten the story right. The film would not have been made without them,� explained Wade.

�The third act wasn�t right. We gave ourselves a few weeks to come up with a new concept, which ultimately became a metaphor for our journey working on these movies � our own Skyfall� added Purvis.

When pushed on if the partners were intending to write more Bond films Wade said �We�re very happy to have done five Bond movies, I think we�ve gotten it to a good place. I know that John Logan and Sam Mendes have come up with a plot for another one, which takes the pressure off because these films take up a lot of time.�

Purvis added, �We were going to stop with Quantum of Solace, but it�s good to go out on a high with Skyfall.�

Asked about other projects outside of Bond, Wade divulged �We did get hired to write a script about Elton John stealing 11 of the best footballers in the world, to play against a team of robots on another planet. �That was our second paid job,� explained Purvis.

And what�s the only thing as a bond writer you can�t do? �Time Travel� says Purvis. �And killing him off� said Wade, before adding �although we have been tempted�

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