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Post by kijii on Sept 18, 2017 17:03:08 GMT
Spider, You are right about him writing all of the original screenplays for all of his movies. But, I was referring to him being the author of both the source material (story, play, novel) and screenplay. There are a few "source stories" that he used in his directed movies that came from someone else. For example: Thankfully, The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949) was derived form a story by Earl Felton. The French, They Are a Funny Race (1955) was based on a book by Pierre Daninos. The Great Moment (1944) was first a book by René Fülöp-Miller. On the other hand, his source material was used for movies by other directors: As you mentioned, Remember the Night is a wonderful story. Strictly Dishonorable (1951) was a play written by Sturges, but directed by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama (a writing duo who often worked together and often wrote from source to screen) I would love to find The Power and the Glory (1933), written by Sturges and directed by William K. Howard. Hotel Haywire (1937) was totally written by Sturges, but the movie was directed by George Archainbaud, etc. Sturges seems to have been a writer long before his first directed movie, The Great McGinty (1940). And, for that reason, IMHO, he has a place as pioneer for writing so many movies from source to screen. There are a lot of great young writers, today, that write directly for the screen, but I don't think there were many before Sturges. The line of writers like Woody Allen may have had its roots with Preston Sturges. Neil Simon has several screenplays in which he was also the source writer, but his route often arose from stage plays to screenplays. What is interesting to me is that playwrites such as Tennessee Williams, William Inge, and Arthur Miller only wrote a few screenplays and some of their screenplays were not based on their own stage plays. By looking into this, I wonder if writing for the stage and writing for the screen aren't two totally different things that require totally different skills..... I know you mentioned that Eugene O'Neill's play, Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962), was filmed as written for stage, But can you think of any screenplays that he wrote? Teleplays, maybe, but screenplays? I have heard that the his favorite movie (based on his own plays) was The Long Voyage Home based on 4 of his Sea Plays, but he didn't write the screenplay for that....Dudley Nichols did. This movie is often considered an "essential," but it doesn't hold together for me. Since it was directed by John Ford, maybe I should try it again....looking for mise-en-scene. This concept is new to me. Does this movie demonstrate its qualities well? What do you see there? |
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Post by spiderwort on Sept 19, 2017 18:22:01 GMT
I understand now, kijii. And I agree with you that Sturges was a pioneer, in particular because he was the first Hollywood screenwriter to became a director (foregoing Chaplin, Keaton, et al, who fall into a slightly different category, imo). As for the difference between writing for the screen and the stage - of course, plays are more confined and rely upon dialogue to tell their stories. Films, on the other hand, almost always "show" their stories more through action. This means they usually have to be "opened up" and taken out of their stage roots. Not always, of course, as evidenced by the artistic (and cinematic) success of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Long Day's Journey into Night, among others. But West Side Story, The Lion in Winter, The War Horse, et al, would have been disasters, if they hadn't been opened up. Not all playwrights are good at that, but many are. Simon was. Robert Anderson was. Robert E. Sherwood was. For the record, William Inge's Oscar winning screenplay, Splendor in the Grass, was an original screenplay, not based on any of his plays. His next and last screenplay, All Fall Down, was adapted from a novel. I don't think that effort was very good, but I think that was because Inge wasn't writing about his beloved small town midwestern milieu - also I don't know how good the novel was. To my knowledge O'Neill only wrote plays. Most of those over the years were adapted into films or television productions by screenwriters - with the exception of Long Day's Journey, which Lumet directed as the play (as Kazan did with Streetcar). And for The Long Voyage Home, I haven't seen it in decades. I loved it then. But a few years ago I tried to watch it again and didn't get very far before I gave up. I think that may have had more to do with O'Neill than with Ford. Not sure. I would have to see the film again to answer your question in full. Hope this helps. |
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Post by petrolino on Sept 19, 2017 21:42:47 GMT
For those interested, I've heard this is an interesting book written about screenwriter Robert Riskin, though I've not read it myself : 'In Capra's Shadow : The Life And Career Of Screenwriter Robert Riskin' by Ian Scott. Robert Riskin is one of my favorites (Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Meet John Doe, It Happened One Night, American Madness, Lost Horizon - the perfect Frank Capra partner/co-creator). O.T., but interesting: His only wife was Fay Wray from 1942 until his death in 1955. Somehow that seems appropriate for his creative world view. Fay Wray also endured a difficult marriage to the writer John Monk Saunders who committed suicide. |
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Post by kijii on Sept 19, 2017 23:15:05 GMT
What do these screenwriters have in common (using the movies listed)?
Woody Allen - Mighty Aphrodite / Hannah and Her Sisters
Paul Thomas Anderson - Punch-Drunk Love / Boogie Nights
Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel / The Royal Tenenbaums
Michael Arndt - Little Miss Sunshine / Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Guillermo Arriaga - The Burning Plain / 21 Grams
Ronald Bass - Entrapment / When a Man Loves a Woman
Noah Baumbach - The Squid and the Whale - The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Warren Beatty - Bulworth / Reds
Simon Beaufoy - Blow Dry / Among Giants
Alan Bennett - Lady in the Van / The Madness of King George
Robert Benton - Places in the Heart /The Late Show
Dustin Lance Black - Virginia / Milk
Harold Jack Bloom - A Gunfight / The Naked Spur
Stuart Blumberg - The Kids Are All Right / Thanks for Sharing
Mark Boal - Zero Dark Thirty / The Hurt Locker
Robert Bolt - A Man for All Seasons / Ryan’s Daughter
John Boorman - Hope and Glory / Zardoz
Muriel Box - A Novel Affair / The Seventh Veil
Charles Brackett - The Model and the Marriage Broker / Titanic
James Bridges - The Baby Maker / Mike’s Murder
James L. Brooks - How Do You Know / Broadcast News
Mel Brooks - Life Stinks / The Producers
Frank Butler - Strange Lady in Town / Rangers of Fortune
Jane Campion - Holy Smoke / The Piano
John Cassavetes - Opening Night / Faces
Paddy Chayefsky - The Goddess / The Hospital
Damien Chazelle - La La Land / Whiplash
T.E.B. Clarke - Passport to Pimlico / The Lavender Hill Mob
Diablo Cody - Juno / Ricki and the Flash
Ethan Coen - Inside Llewyn Davis / Bridge of Spies
Betty Comden - Singin’ in the Rain / It’s Always Fair Weather
Cameron Crowe - Almost Famous / Jerry Maguire
Richard Curtis - Four Weddings and a Funeral / Love Actually
Nora Ephron - Heartburn / Silkwood
Horton Foote - The Trip to Bountiful / Baby the Rain Must Fall
Marvin Frank - A Touch of Class / Strange Bedfellows
David Franzoni - King Arthur / Gladiator
E. Max Frye - Something Wild / Foxcatcher
John Gatins - Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story / Flight
Leonard Gershe - Butterflies are Free / Funny Face
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton / Duplicity
Bo Goldman - Shoot the Moon / City Hall
James Goldman - Robin and Marian / The Lion in Winter
William Goldman - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid / The Ghost and the Darkness
Ruth Gordon - The Marrying Kind / The Actress
James Edward Grant - The Lady Is Willing / The Alamo
Susannah Grant - 28 Days / Erin Brockovich
John Guare - Six Degrees of Separation / Atlantic City
Paul Haggis - Quantum of Solace / Crash
David Hare - Paris by Night / Plenty
Todd Haynes - Far from Heaven / I’m Not There.
Ben Hecht - Miracle in the Rain / Notorious
Lillian Hellman - The Searching Wind / The North Star
Milton Holmes - Mr. Lucky / Salty O’Rourke
John Hughes - Dutch / Joe Pesci
John Huston - Three Strangers / Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet
Paul Jarrico - Tom, Dick and Harry / Thousands Cheer
Neil Jordan - Michael Collins / The Crying Game
Michael Kanin - Woman of the Year / Teacher’s Pet
Lawrence Kasdan - The Big Chill / Silverado
Charlie Kaufman - Synecdoche, New York / Human Nature
Callie Khouri - Thelma & Louis / Something to Talk About
Norman Krasna - The Ambassador’s Daughter / The Devil and Miss Jones
Richard LaGravenese - - Living Out Loud / The Fisher King
Arthur Laurents - The Turning Point / The Way We Were
Spike Lee - Do the Right Thing / Jungle Fever
Ernest Lehman - North by Northwest / Sweet Smell of Success
Mike Leigh - Secrets & Lies / Vera Drake
Barry Levinson - ..and justice for all. / Diner
Richard Linklater - Boyhood / Before Sunrise
John Logan - The Aviator / The Last Samurai
Kenneth Lonergan - Margaret / Manchester by the Sea
David Lynch - Mulholland Drive / Inland Empire
Terrence Malick - Badlands / Days of Heaven
David Mamet - House of Games / Glengarry Glen Ross
Joseph L. Mankiewicz - All About Eve / No Way Out
Paul Mazursky - Harry and Tonto / Next Stop, Greenwich Village
Tom McCarthy - The Station Agent / Spotlight
Larry McMurtry - Falling from Grace / The Last Picture Show
Christopher McQuarrie - The Way of the Gun / The Usual Suspects
John Milius - The Wind and the Lion / Dillinger
Arthur Miller - The Misfits / The Crucible
Seton I. Miller - The Mississippi Gambler / The Man Who Cheated Himself
Peter Morgan - The Queen / 360
Oren Moverman - Rampart / / The Messenger
Bob Nelson - Nebraska / The Confirmation
David Newman - Bonnie and Clyde / There Was a Crooked Man...
Andrew Niccol - S1m0ne / Lord of War
Dudley Nichols - Rawhide / Air Force
Christopher Nolan- Interstellar / Inception
George Oppenheimer - The Feminine Touch / A Yank at Eton
Robert Pirosh - Washington Story / Battleground
Michael Powell - "I Know Where I’m Going! " / Stairway to Heaven
Mario Puzo - Earthquake / The Godfather
Terence Rattigan - Separate Tables / The Winslow Boy
Walter Reisch - That Hamilton Woman / / The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing
Gary Ross - Big / Dave
William Rose - Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner / The Ladykillers
Eric Roth - Mr. Jones / The Good Shepherd
David O. Russell - I Heart Huckabees / American Hustle
John Sayles - Passion Fish / City of Hope
Budd Schulberg - A Face in the Crowd / On the Waterfront
Arnold Schulman - Love with the Proper Stranger / A Hole in the Head
Peter Shaffer - Equus/ Amadeus
Stanley Shapiro - Lover Come Back / That Touch of Mink
Sidney Sheldon - The Buster Keyton Story / The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
Ron Shelton - White Men Can’t Jump / Blue Chips
N. Night Shyamalan - The Sixth Sense / The Village
Neil Simon - Murder by Death / The Sunshine Boys
John Singleton - Baby Boy / Boyz n the Hood
John Steinbeck - Viva Zapata! / The Red Pony
Douglas Day Stewart - An Officer and a Gentleman / Listen to Me
Andrew L. Stone - The Last Voyage / Cry Terror!
Oliver Stone - Nixon/ Platoon
Tom Stoppard - Shakespeare in Love / Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Preston Sturges - The Palm Beach Story / The Great McGinty
Quentin Tarantino - The Hateful Eight / Django Unchained
Steve Tesich - Breaking Away / Eyewitness
Robert Towne - Tequila Sunrise / Chinatown
Lamar Trotti - Wilson / Young Mr. Lincoln
Dalton Trumbo - We Who Are Young / Tender Comrade
Deric Washburn - The Boarder / The Deer Hunter
Orson Wells - Citizen Kane / Confidential Report
Billy Wilder - The Apartment / Sunset Boulevard
Tennessee Williams - The Rose Tatoo / Baby Doll
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Post by kijii on Sept 20, 2017 0:48:44 GMT
There are too many to name - and just in America, to say nothing of the rest of the world. I'll stick with America for now. A few of my favorites in random order:
Bo Goldman - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Shoot the Moon, Melvin and Howard, The Rose Paddy Chayefsky - Marty, Network, The Americanization of Emily John Huston - The African Queen (also directed), The Treasure of Sierra Madre, Sergeant York, High Sierra, The Maltese Falcon (directing debut), Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (also directed) Horton Foote - To Kill a Mockingbird, The Trip to Bountiful (from his play), Tender Mercies, Of Mice and Men (1992), Tomorrow (from his play based on a Faulkner story) Joseph L. Mankiewicz - All About Eve, Letter to Three Wives, No Way Out (directed all) Herman J. Mankiewicz - Citizen Kane, Pride of the Yankees, The Enchanted Cottage Paul Osborn - East of Eden, Wild River, Portrait of Jennie, The Yearling, Sayonara, South Pacific, On Borrowed Time (from his play) Jay Presson Allen - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Prince of the City, Marnie, Cabaret Casey Robinson - Dark Victory, Kings Row, Now Voyager, The Corn is Green, Captain Blood Ernest Lehman - North by Northwest, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Sabrina, Sweet Smell of Success, Somebody Up There Likes Me, Walter Bernstein (blacklisted) - Fail-Safe, The Front Irving Ravetch & Harriet Frank - Hud, Norma Rae, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs Julius & Philip Epstein - Casablanca, Mr. Skeffington, Arsenic & Old Lace, Strawberry Blonde, The Man Who Came to Dinner Budd Schulberg - On the Waterfront, A Face in the Crowd Robert E. Sherwood - The Best Years of Our Lives, The Petrified Forest (from his play), The Bishop's Wife, Abe Lincoln in Illinois (from his play), Rebecca Ruth Prawer Jhabvala - Howards End, Remains of the Day, Room with a View Nora Ephron - Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally, Julie and Julia Robert Anderson - The Nun's Story, The Sand Pebbles, Tea and Sympathy (from his play), I Never Sang for My Father (from his play) Robert Rossen - The Hustler, A Walk in the Sun, The Sea Wolf, The Roaring Twenties, All the King's Men, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers Carl Foreman - High Noon, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Cyrano de Bergerac, Champion, The Men, Young Man with a Horn, The Guns of Navarone Dalton Trumbo (blacklisted) - Exodus, Spartacus, Lonely Are the Brave, Roman Holiday (originally uncredited), Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, A Guy Named Joe, Our Vines Have Tender Grapes Ben Hecht - Notorious, Spellbound, Scarface (1932), Kiss of Death, Wuthering Heights, His Girl Friday (from his play with Charles Lederer, The Front Page), Nothing Sacred Spider--- Do you know if Elmer Rice's Street Scene was a play shot as a movie...not "opened up"? As I remember it, it did seem much like a play on film. |
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Post by spiderwort on Sept 20, 2017 1:44:54 GMT
Spider--- Do you know if Elmer Rice's Street Scene was a play shot as a movie...not "opened up"? As I remember it, it did seem much like a play on film. It wasn't really opened up in the sense that it was confined to the "street scene" and didn't go to other places. But its art direction was much more substantial than it would have been on stage. The street really looked like a street and the buildings were larger and more realistic than they would have been on stage. I only recall one or two shots of people going to work in which we got to see them going away down the street (out of the primary location, that is). And there might have been a shot into the building from one of the windows; I'm not sure. It's a fine film version though, in my opinion. Btw, did you read my response to your post above? |
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Post by spiderwort on Sept 20, 2017 2:11:14 GMT
What do these screenwriters have in common (using the movies listed)?They are all original screenplays, or they are screenplays based upon source material of the writers of the screenplays, i.e. both Tennessee Williams screenplays were adapted from his own plays.
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Post by kijii on Sept 20, 2017 6:02:34 GMT
Totally Correct!! Spider!!!  It was constructed on the idea that all movies-screenplay writers were example of writers who had written (or been part of writing) both the source story/play/novel etc. AND the final screenplay--first level and final level writing. Also, every writer was an Oscar nominee for his/her screenplay writing (this Oscar only started in 1940). And, every movie in the list had an at least one Best Oscar performer nominee--with no repeats. Many of the writers were (are) part of a regular writing team. For example, I just chose one of the Coen Brothers, Ruth Gordon usually wrote with her husband, Garson Kanin; Wes Anderson often writes with Own Wilson; and Betty Comden was a representative of the Comden/Green team, etc. If one copies any of the names on the list and then pastes the name onto the IMDb and then selects Writer, one can see that that person's writing filmography.
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Post by kijii on Sept 20, 2017 23:27:25 GMT
I Trying to add to your list with your criteria ---and starting with more familiar names: Arthur Miller - Everybody Wins (1990) / The Misfits (1961) Tennessee Williams - Baby Doll (1956) / The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (2008) John Steinbeck - Viva Zapata! (1952) Sylvester Stallone - Rocky (1976) Neil Simon - The Goodbye Girl (1977) / The Out of Towners (1970) / Murder by Death (1976) / The Cheap Detective (1978) / The Marrying Man (1991) / The Slugger's Wife (1985) / Max Dugan Returns (1983)-- I think he wrote these all directly for the screen.Waldo Salt - The Flame and the Arrow (1950) Edward Anhalt - Hour of the Gun (1967) / The Gentleman from Nowhere (1948) Stanley Shapiro - The Seniors (1978) / Carbon Copy (1981) David Mamet - The Edge (1997) / Hoffa (1992) Colin Welland - Chariots of Fire (1981) / Twice in a Lifetime (1985) (I will try to find more and add by editing here) |
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Post by kijii on Sept 21, 2017 0:36:30 GMT
I'm glad you added the criterion of not directed by the writer since it would be hard to list all of Preston Sturges', Woody Allen's, and Charlie Chaplin's movies that they wrote by themselves, Olver Stone, Terrence Malick, Quentin Tarantino. et al. would have also presented a problems.
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Post by spiderwort on Sept 22, 2017 2:39:38 GMT
spiderwort Apologies about the confusion on the "well-known" issue. I suppose I'd like to make this thread about all screenwriters, including the not very well-known ones. Hope that makes some more sense.  Thanks, Salzmank. This is a very interesting thread, indeed, though in my exchanges with kijii , I'm reminded that there's a big difference between writers' credits today and their credits during the studio days. There are multiple credited writers on films today, of course, but in the studio days it was really the norm - and there were also uncredited writers (sometimes called script doctors), and credited "story" writers who were responsible for some of the writing. It's hard to know who did what, unless it's been documented. Or you were there. I've chosen more or less to concentrate on those who have only a couple of writers on a film when possible. Generally speaking, at least in the last few decades, unless the writers work as partners, one of those will be most responsible for the script and merit the most credit for the final outcome. Bo Goldman, for example, is really responsible for the final screenplay for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, yet he had to share his Oscar with Laurence Hauben, though Bo's script was a page one rewrite of Hauben's. Anyway, maybe I'll try a post about those who specialized (mostly) in comedies next. Or maybe novelists who also wrote scripts - there are some good stories about that, I know. Or those who specialized in westerns. Not always possible, I guess, but compartmentalizing would make it a little easier to wrangle this vast subject, for me anyway. |
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Post by Salzmank on Sept 22, 2017 2:51:44 GMT
spiderwort, I understand its overwhelmingness (is that a word? Hmmm...), and I'm not quite sure what to say. Choosing a few would probably be a better idea, yes, but I just wanted to give preliminary credit to some of these fine folks. (As noted in the OP, it was late when I wrote it, and I didn't exactly work out all--or any of--the bugs with it.) I should have noted, in my post about directors and writers, how the large number of screenwriters, including script doctors, presents a definite challenge for a writer-centered view of film. One more point to chew on, ehh...? Thanks!
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Post by spiderwort on Sept 22, 2017 3:12:11 GMT
spiderwort , I understand its overwhelmingness (is that a word? Hmmm...), Oh, salzmank, I hope you didn't take anything I said as a criticism! I love this thread! I'm just trying to figure out how to tackle it without getting too carried away. I love the shorter posts about one or two writers that others have made, but I tend to want to go on too long. Just trying to limit myself. Anyway, here are some writers who did a lot of (though not always) comedies. Some well known, some not so much (forgive any repeats): Sidney Sheldon - The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (original screenplay, Oscar)
Norman Panama & Melvin Frank - The Road to Utopia (Oscar nom), The Facts of Life (Oscar nom), White Christmas, The Court Jester (also directed)
Isobel Lennart - Please Don't Eat the Daisies, Funny Girl, Holiday Affair, The Sundowners (Oscar nom), Love Me or Leave Me (Oscar nom)
Sidney Buchman - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Oscar nom), Here Comes Mr. Jordon (Oscar), The Talk of the Town (Oscar nom), Theodora Goes Wild Norman Krasna - The Devil and Miss Jones (Oscar nom), Princess O'Rourke (Oscar), The Richest Girl in the World (original screenplay, Oscar nom) Nora Ephron - When Harry Met Sally (Oscar nom; also directed), Julie and Julia (also directed), Silkwood (Oscar nom) Phoebe Ephron & Henry Ephron (Nora's parents) - Desk Set, Daddy Long Legs, There's No Business Like Show Business, Carousel, Bells on Their Toes, Captain Newman, MD (Oscar nom) Betty Comden & Adolph Green - Auntie Mame, On the Town, Bells Are Ringing, Singin' in the Rain, The Band Wagon (Oscar nom), It's Always Fair Weather (Oscar nom) Ruth Gordon & Garson Kanin - Adam's Rib, Pat and Mike, The Rat Race, A Double Life (Oscar nom) |
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Post by Salzmank on Sept 22, 2017 3:14:31 GMT
spiderwort Oh, no, certainly not as a criticism, Spider! No worries, just my thinking out-loud... You're more than welcome to take this thread in any direction you wish, by the way. It was you who--on the other board-that-cannot-be-named--first considered the idea.
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Post by kijii on Sept 22, 2017 23:18:08 GMT
The following quote sort of shows how complicated the subject of screenwriting is (and has been). Namely, the definitions have changed over time : Source: www.filmsite.org/bestscreenplays.htmlBut, if you look at Woody Allen, he can't be compared to Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, Coppola. While Chayesky and Allen both came from the TV writing "workshop" and usually wrote their works alone, Wilder almost always wrote with Brackett or Diamond (group writers much as with the early writers). Preston Sturges.....where did he come from and did he change the modern mold or did he follow Charlie Chaplin? |
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Post by kijii on Sept 23, 2017 5:50:02 GMT
I Just found another addition to our list from above post:
Colin Welland - Chariots of Fire (1981) / Twice in a Lifetime (1985)
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