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Screenwriters and Critics

here on page one: movie & TV writers, A-Z A thru F • G thru M • N thru S • T thru Z cinema historians links on page two: top of page critics & theorists, A-Z books on cinema aesthetics

“I love being a writer. What I can't stand is the paperwork.”
— Peter De Vries [1910-93]

Movie  &  Television  Writers

Film Reference website / Writers & Production Artists pages
A-Ba • Ba-Bo • Bo-Ce • Ch-De • De-Ed • Ei-Gi • Gi-Ha • Ha-Ja • Ja-Kr
Kr-Lo • Lo-Me • Me-Ni • Ni-Po • Po-Ro • Ro-Sh • Sh-Sy • T-Vi • Vi-Z

screenwriters Edna & Edward Anhalt

screenwriter Ronald Bass

Robert Benton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Benton

writer-producer Paul Bern [1889-1932]
IMDb listing • Wikipedia
second husband of actress Jean Harlow [1911-37]: married July 1932, suicide? September 1932

writer A.I. Bezzerides [1908-2007]
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0080135/
pal of writer John Fante [1909-83]

"The Long Haul of A.I. Bezzerides" [2005] /tt0445081/

screenwriter Shane Black

screenwriter Charles Brackett
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Brackett

writer W.R. Burnett [1899-1982] Page
at Spirit of America Bookstore

writer Paddy Chayefsky [1923-81]
browse books • Broadway credits • browse DVDs • movie credits • Wikipedia

Collected Screenplays • Collected Teleplays • Collected Stageplays

"Network"  [M.G.M. Nov 1976]

An aging network news anchor is fired, and his on-air tirade – "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!" – causes a sensation among his viewers, so he is rehired and given his own show. Directed by Sidney Lumet; written by Paddy Chayefsky; starring Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Robert Duvall, Beatrice Straight & Ned Beatty; won Oscars for Best Script, Best Actor [Finch], Best Actress [FD], Best Supporting Actress [BS], nominated for Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Actor [WH], Best Supporting Actor [NB], Best Cinematography, Best Editing; won BAFTA for Best Actor [Finch], nominated for 8 more; won W.G.A. Award for Best Original Script Warner widescreen color DVD [2/2006] 2 disks for $23.99 M.G.M. color VHS [5/96] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb novelization by Sam Hedrin Penguin movie tie-in mass pb [11/76] out of print/used

screenwriter Diablo Cody

Magic Lantern's actor, composer & playwright Noλl Coward [1899-1973] Page

screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.A.L._Diamond
often collaborated as writer and-or producer with Billy Wilder [1906-2002]

The Ephron Clan

writer-producer Henry Ephron [1911-92]
autobiography "We Thought We Could Do Anything" [1977]

writer Phoebe Wolkind Ephron [1914-71]

writer-director Nora Ephron [1941-2012]
"The Most of Nora Ephron" [Knopf 10/2013] by Nora Ephron, Introduction by Robert Gottlieb

writer-producer Delia Ephron [b. 1944]
http://www.deliaephronwriter.com/

writer Hallie Ephron [b. 1948]
http://www.hallieephron.com/

writer Amy Laura Ephron [b. 1952]

screenwriter Julius J. Epstein
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_J._Epstein

writer John Fante [1909-83] Page
at Spirit of America Bookstore

writer Wm. Faulkner [1897-1962] Page
at Spirit of America Bookstore

William Faulkner Quotations Page
at Working Minds Philosophy website

Andrew J. Fenady [b. 1928]
books • credits on IMDb • Wikipedia {empty}

screenwriter Carl Foreman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Foreman

screenwriter Harriet Frank, Jr.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Frank_Jr.

screenwriter Melvin Frank
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_Frank

screenwriter Daniel Fuchs [1909-93]
credits [1939-95] on IMDb • Wikipedia

"The Golden West: Hollywood Stories, 1937-89" [2005] by Daniel Fuchs; Introduction by John Updike includes short fiction & non-fiction, and the novella "West of The Rockies" (1971) Black Sparrow/Godine 8½x6 pb [10/2006] for $16.95 Black Sparrow/Godine 9x6 hardcover [5/2005] for $24.83

screenwriter Bo Goldman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Goldman

screenwriter William Goldman [b. 1931]
IMDb listing {since 1963} • entry at Wikipedia

won Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid" [1969]
won Oscar for Best Screenplay Adaptation for "All The President's Men" [1976]

"Adventures In The Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting" [national bestseller 1983] by William Goldman Part Two includes chapters on "Charly" [1964, script not used], "Masquerade" [1965], "Harper" [1966], "The Thing of It Is ..." [1967 novel, not filmed], "The Stepford Wives" [1975], "The Great Waldo Pepper" [1975], "All The President's Men" [1976] {won Oscar for Best Script}, "Marathon Man" [1976], "A Bridge Too Far" [1977], "Grand Hotel" [1980s, not filmed], and "The Right Stuff" [1980s, script not used]; Part Three is about "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid" [1969]; Expanded Edition includes text of the 'BC&TSK' script Kindle Edition from Grand Central Publng [6/2012] for $8.89 Grand Central Publng 8x5¼ pb [3/89] for $14.85 Warner Books 9¼x6½ hardcover [3/83] for $27.46

"Nobody Knows Anything (Except William Goldman)"  
documentary feature [indep 2017?]

upcoming documentary feature about the two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter, bestselling novelist, non-fiction author, and playwright; as-of June 2016, still seeking Kickstarter funding Co-produced by Suzanne Weinert; co-produced & directed by Caroline Case DVD/Blu-ray not yet available • credits at IMDb • official Facebook site watch Kickstarter promo video [4:07]

writing team Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich

Albert Hackett [1900-95]
Broadway credits • movie credits • Wikipedia

Frances Goodrich {Ames Hackett} [1890-1984]
Broadway credits • movie credits • Wikipedia

team wrote screenplays for three of the 'Thin Man' Movies
team nominated for four Best Screenplay Oscars, won four W.G.A. Awards

"The Real Nick and Nora: Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, Writers of Stage and Screen Classics" [2001] by David L Goodrich Southern Illinois Univ Press 8¾x5¾ pb [10/2004] out of print/used Southern Illinois Univ Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [12/2001] for $30.00

writer Ben Hecht [1894-1964] browse books • IMDb listing • Broadway credits • Wikipedia

"Ben Hecht: The Man Behind The Legend" [1990] by William MacAdams Barricade Books 9x6½ pb [2/95] out of print/used Scribner hardcover [3/90] out of print/used "A Child of The Century" [1985] memoirs of Ben Hecht Plume 7x5 pb [5/85] out of print/used Dutton hardcover [5/85] out of print/used

Spirit of America Bookstore's
playwright & critic Lillian Hellman [1905-84] Page
she was on H.U.A.C.'s Hollywood Blacklist in the 1940s & 1950s

screenwriter Buck Henry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Henry

screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala [1927-2013]
long associated with Merchant-Ivory Productions; only person ever to win both the Booker Prize and an Oscar
browse books • browse DVDs • IMDb listing • entry at Wikipedia

"Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and The Art of Ambivalence" by Maya Jasanoff
"writer [Jhabvala] cast her satiric gaze widely, scrutinizing everyone from Indian ιlites to New York ιmigrιs"
read the 1/2019 article online at The New Yorker Magazine

screenwriter Nunnally Johnson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunnally_Johnson

writer-director Garson Kanin [1912-99]
browse books • IMDb listing [1938-95] • Wikipedia

married to actress Ruth Gordon [1896-1985] from 1942

"The True Glory" [1945] co-directed by Carol Reed;
won an Academy Award for Best Documentary

"Moviola" [1979 bestselling novel] by Garson Kanin A novelization of Kanin's life on Broadway & in Hollywood; aged movie mogul Ben Farber tells tales from his seventy years in show business, with an all-star cast. Pocket TV tie-in mass pb [4/80] out of print/many, many used S&S 9½x6¼ hardcover [11/79] out of print/many, many used book cited as the source for three NBC-TV movies: "This Year's Blonde" [May 1980] about Marilyn Monroe & Johnny Hyde DVD/Blu-ray not available; full credits at IMDb "The Scarlett O'Hara War" [May 1980] about making "Gone With The Wind" [1939] DVD/Blu-ray not available; full credits at IMDb "The Silent Lovers" [May 1980] about Greta Gartbo & John Gilbert DVD/Blu-ray not available; full credits at IMDb

"A Family Affair: The Kanins In Hollywood and On Broadway" [2009]
by (nephew) Josh Kanin & Wayne Lindholm

screenwriter Charlie Kaufman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Kaufman

writer-producer-director Callie Khouri

"Thelma & Louise" [1991]

"Divine Secrets of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood" [2002]

"Nashville" TV series [ABC-TV 2012]

screenwriter Christopher Knopf  [b. 1927]
has received an Edgar Alan Poe nomination, two Emmy Nominations, a Humanitas Prize nomination, two Writers Guild of America Award-winning scripts
as well as five further W.G.A. nominations, two Writers Guild of America Service Awards, a People’s Choice Award, and an N.A.A.C.P. Award
IMDb listing [1951-91] • no entry at Wikipedia

autobiography "Will The Real Me Please Stand Up" [BearManor Media]
http://www.amazon.com/Will-Real-Please-Stand-Author/dp/B00Y2RESKK/
"Remains To Be Seen" novel [BearManor Media]
"Chill Factor" novel [BearManor Media]
http://www.amazon.com/Chill-Factor-Christopher-Knopf/dp/1593938160/

"Emperor of The North" [2015 novel] by Christopher Knopf   When Robert Aldrich directed his unforgettable film "Emperor of The North" [1973] featuring Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine & Keith Carradine, changes were made to the original screenplay of Christopher Knopf. The film still managed to please audiences and has remained a favorite among many. The theme ballad, "A Man and A Train", written by Frank De Vol with lyrics by Hal David and sung by Marty Robbins, reached #40 on the Billboard chart. Knopf always longed to reset the ruthless railroad tale on the right tracks. Now, nearly half a century later, award-winner Knopf finally reveals the original story in a riveting new novel that restores the crucial elements that film audiences have never experienced. http://www.bearmanormedia.com/emperor-of-the-north-by-christopher-knopf

screenwriter Norman Krasna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Krasna

screenwriter Ring Lardner, Jr. [1915-2000]
browse books • IMDb listing • Wikipedia
was on H.U.A.C.'s Hollywood Blacklist in the 1940s & 1950s

"I'd Hate Myself In The Morning: A Memoir" [2000] by Ring Lardner, Jr.; Introduction by Victor Navasky Thunder's Mouth Press 9¼x6 pb [10/2001] for $10.17 Nation Books 9¼x6¼ hardcover [10/2000] for $15.61

screenwriter Ernest Lehman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Lehman

screenwriter John Logan
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0517589/

"Hugo" [2011]
"Skyfall" [2012]
"Bond 24" [announced 10/2012]
"Bond 25" [announced 10/2012]

screenwriter & author Anita Loos [1888-1981]
browse books • IMDb listing • Broadway credits • entry at Wikipedia

"The Musketeers of Pig Alley" silent short [ 1912]
"The New York Hat" [ 1912]
"Macbeth" [1916]
"The Mystery of The Leaping Fish" [1916]
"Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout The Ages" [1916]
"The Matrimaniac" [1916]
"Wild and Woolly" [1917]
"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" [1928]
"Red-Headed Woman" [1932]
"The Girl From Missouri" [1934]
"Riffraff" [1936]
"Saratoga" [1937]
"The Cowboy and The Lady" [1937]
"The Women" [1939]
"Babes In Arms" [1939]
"Another Thin Man" [1939]
"A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" [1945]
"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" [1953]
"Gentlemen Marry Brunettes" [1955]

"A Girl Like I" autobiography [Viking Press 9/1966] by Anita Loos

"Kiss Hollywood Good-By" [1974] by Anita Loos Second of her two autobiographies, covering the early years as a screenwriter in Hollywood, with emphasis on the famous folk that she worked and socialized with: Marion Davies & Wm. Randolph Hearst, Douglas Fairbanks, Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, D.W. Griffith, Jean Harlow, Aldous Huxley, H.L. Mencken, Dorothy Parker, Irving Thalberg, many others Ballantine Books mass pb [3/75] out of print/used Viking Press 8½x6 hardcover [7/74] out of print/100+ used Viking Press 8½x6 hardcover [7/74] out of print/used

screenwriter Frederica Sagor Maas [b. 1900]
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0756226/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederica_Sagor_Maas

"The Shocking Miss Pilgrim: A Writer In Early Hollywood" [] by Frederica Sagor Maas
http://www.kentuckypress.com/live/title_detail.php?titleid=1245

screenwriter Charles MacArthur

screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz [1897-1953]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Mankiewicz

co-wrote "Citizen Kane" [1941] with Orson Welles [1915-85]

screenwriter Abby Mann
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abby_Mann

screenwriter Frances Marion [1886-1973] Page
at 'Readers of The Purple Sage' Western Bookstore

screenwriter Paul Mazursky
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Mazursky

author Arthur Miller [1915-2005] Page
at Spirit of America Bookstore

Clifford Odets  [1906-63]
browse books • browse DVDs • IMDb listing • Broadway credits • Wikipedia
on H.U.A.C.'s Hollywood Blacklist in the 1940s & 1950s

Clifford Odets papers at Indiana University

"Clifford Odets: American Playwright - The Years From 1906-1940" [2002] by Margaret Brenman-Gibson {the author died before completing the second volume} Applause Books 9x6½ pb [1/2002] for $15.56

screenwriter Norman Panama
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Panama

author Dorothy Parker [1893-1967] Page
at Spirit of America Bookstore

screenwriter Eleanor Perry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Perry

Denne Bart Petitclerc [1929-2006] Page
at Spirit of America Bookstore

screenwriter Frank Pierson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Pierson

screenwriter George H. Plympton  [1889-1972]
wrote mostly Westerns and serials from 1912; his IMDb listing shows 306 titles
browse 90+ George Plympton DVDs on Amazon • IMDb listing • Wikipedia •

screenwriter Robert Riskin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Riskin

screenwriter Waldo Salt [1914-87]
browse books • IMDb listing • Wikipedia
on H.U.A.C.'s Hollywood Blacklist in the 1940s & 1950s
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival

(daughter) actress-screenwriter Jennifer Salt
IMDb listing • Wikipedia

writer Budd Schulberg [1914-2009] browse books • IMDb listing • Wikipedia

"What Makes Sammy Run?" [1941 novel]
"The Harder They Fall" [1947 novel]
cooperating witness for the H.U.A.C. blacklist hearings
Oscar-winning screenplay "On The Waterfront" [1954], also won W.G.A. Award
"A Face In The Crowd" [1957 screenplay]
produced "Wind Across The Everglades" [1958] directed by Nicholas Ray

"Moving Pictures: Memories of A Hollywood Prince" [orig 1981] by Budd Schulberg Ivan R. Dee, Publrs 8¾x6½ pb [9/2003] for $17.05 Stein & Day 9x6¼ hardcover [9/82] out of print/used

"Hollywood Renegade" documentary [2010]
Produced, co-written & directed by {son} Benn Schulberg; full credits at IMDb

screenwriter Rod Serling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Serling
http://www.ithaca.edu/rhp/serling
Before Serling became a TV icon, he was a paratrooper and member of a demolition squad in the Army in WWII.

"Patterns" [United Artists 1956] Serling's forceful study of ruthless greed & abuse of power in corporate America Directed by Fielder Cook; written by Rod Serling; starring Van Heflin, Everett Sloane, Ed Begley, Beatrice Straight & Andrew Duggan VCI b&w VHS [7/98] for $14.99 full credits from IMDb

"Requiem For A Heavyweight" [1962] wr by Rod Serling

"The Twilight Zone" TV series

Rod Serling biopic feature film
Announced 7/2011: written by “Wall Street” scribe Stanley Weiser

screenwriter Melville Shavelson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melville_Shavelson

screenwriter Stirling Silliphant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_Silliphant

screenwriter Aaron Sorkin
co-wrote "The West Wing" TV series [1999-2006]
wrote "A Few Good Men" stageplay & screenplay [1992]
co-wrote "The Social Network" [2010]
co-wrote "Moneyball" [2011]

journalist & screenwriter Adela Rogers St. Johns [1894-1988]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adela_Rogers_St._Johns
appeared in Warren Beatty's "Reds" [1981]

screenwriter Caroline Thompson
credits [since 1990] on IMDb • official website • Wikipedia

"First Born" [1983 novel]
"Edward Scissorhands" screenplay [1990] co-written & directed by Tim Burton
"The Addams Family" screenplay [1991]
"Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey" adaptation [1993]
"The Secret Garden" adaptation [1993] directed by Agnieszka Holland
"The Nightmare Before Christmas" co-written [1993]
"Black Beauty" adapted & directed [1994]
"Buddy" [1997]
"Snow White: The Fairest of Them All" co-written & directed [teleplay 2001]
"Corpse Bride" co-written [2005] directed by Tim Burton
"City of Ember" adaptation [2008]
adaptation of Melissa Marr’s novel "Wicked Lovely" [DUE 2012]
adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel "The Master and Margarita"

screenwriter Robert Towne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Towne

[blacklistee]  screenwriter Dalton Trumbo [1905-76]

screenwriter Steven Zaillian
adapted "Schindler's List" [1993] from Thomas Keneally's book
co-wrote "Mission: Impossible" [1996]
co-wrote Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" [2002]
co-wrote "Moneyball" [2011]

Cinema  Historians
The entries for film historians rapidly grew until almost a third of this page, so the info was cut
to a separate page in March 2011.

Magic Lantern's Cinema Historians Page
including entries about Kevin Brownlow • William K. Everson • Michael Freedman • Kalton C. Lahue
David W. Menefee • Anthony Slide • Marc Wanamaker • Robert Youngson

Cinema  Critics  &  Theorists,  A to Z
This section also became over-large and was cut to Page 2 in Summer 2015.

Books  On  Cinema  Aesthetics
Likewise cut to Page 2 in Summer 2015.

L i n k s

FIPRESCI: The International Federation of Film Critics [est. 1925]
Joan's Digest feminist film quarterly [est. 2011]

W.G.A. list of 101 Greatest Screenplays, 2013

here on the Screenwriters and Critics Pages at Magic Lantern Video & Book Store

here on page 1: top of page • movie & TV writers, A-Z • links

on page 2: top of page • critics & theorists, A-Z • books on cinema aesthetics

˜                    ˜

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