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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: screenwriters

screenwriters stories: 13 news summaries
finally

 Lauren Bacall 
 Wins an Oscar 

Roger Corman, Gordon Willis, John Calley share the spotlight

Nov 15, 09 3:24 PM CST
(Newser) - A mere 65 years after her unforgettable screen debut, Lauren Bacall has won an Academy Award. The honorary Oscar was a high point of a ceremony last night in Los Angeles that also celebrated the careers of filmmaker Roger Corman, cinematographer Gordon Willis, and producer John Calley. "I can't... More »

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entertainment • Hollywood • Academy Awards • film • Los Angeles • film director • screenwriters • actor • Hollywood producers • movies • Oscars • actress • cinematographer • Lauren Bacall • Roger Corman • Gordon Willis • John Calley • honorary Oscar • filmmaker

Ballsy Move Helped Gervais Cast New Movie

Phillip Seymour Hoffman has a really good sense of humor

Sep 25, 09 3:39 PM CDT
(Newser) - Ricky Gervais, perhaps best known for the original version of The Office, bids for movie stardom with The Invention of Lying, out next week. Gervais co-wrote, co-directed, and stars as the only person on earth with the ability to lie. He tells the Telegraph about the experience, and what jumps... More »

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entertainment • film • The Office • film director • Ricky Gervais • Philip Seymour Hoffman • screenwriters • movies • The Invention of Lying

OPINION

 Read Your Script? F—, No! 

History of Violence writer tells it like it is

Sep 13, 09 11:56 AM CDT
(Newser) - Josh Olson is a professional screenwriter, and his time and experience are money. So just as the author of A History of Violence wouldn’t ask you to “represent me in fucking court, or take out my fucking gallbladder,” please, don’t ask him to give you advice... More »

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entertainment • Hollywood • film • screenwriters • movie industry • professional • screenplay • Josh Olson • A History of Violence

 Behind Mad Men Are...Women 

Women directed five of this season's 13 episodes

Aug 7, 09 2:21 PM CDT
(Newser) - The misogynists who populate Mad Men's character ranks might make you think otherwise, but seven of the show's nine writers are women—a rarity in Hollywood, where 80% of primetime programs in 2007-08 had no female writers. “A lot of people think women can only do women shows,... More »

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entertainment • television • writer • screenwriters • scriptwriters • TV series • Mad Men • writers • women's issues • television program

appreciation

My Pen Pal, John Hughes

Teen approached iconic filmmaker, who responded with kindness, advice

Aug 7, 09 10:43 AM CDT
(Newser) - For one teenage fan in the 1980s, John Hughes was more than just a director; he was her pen pal. "He made me feel like what I said mattered," a grieving Alison Byrne Fields writes on her blog. They corresponded for 2 years, and "he loved... More »

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Hollywood • film • letters • screenwriters • teenager • John Hughes • Alison Byrne Fields

(Newser) - Legendary Hollywood screenwriter Budd Schulberg has died, the New York Times reports. He was 95. Schulberg, who won an Oscar for On the Waterfront in 1955, was the son of a movie mogul and grew up as a Hollywood insider. His 1941 novel What Makes Sammy Run?, a scathing look... More »

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Hollywood • Communist Party • author • Joe Louis • screenwriters • movie industry • Spike Lee • blacklist • Budd Schulberg • On the Waterfront • House Un-American Activities Committee • Red scare • John Wayne • Max Schmeling

(Newser) - In many ways, the life of a porn screenwriter is a breeze compared to Hollywood, Christopher Beam writes for Slate. “Your average 90-minute porn film will have between five and seven sex scenes,” he explains. “At five to 10 minutes each, that leaves only about a half-hour... More »

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pornography • adult films • screenwriters • movies • cinematographer • porn industry • script • sex scene

(AP) - Playwright and screenwriter Horton Foote, who movingly portrayed the broken dreams of common people in The Trip to Bountiful, Tender Mercies, and his Oscar-winning screen adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird, died today in Connecticut at age 92. Foote's writing career spanned more than half a century and earned him... More »

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obituary • Pulitzer Prize • screenwriters • playwright

 A Comic Star is Born? 

Much to his surprise, Danny McBride finds himself in demand

May 29, 08 9:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - He didn’t plan it this way, but Danny McBride will end up in three of the summer’s biggest comedies, the LA Times reports. In The Foot Fist Way, Pineapple Express, and Tropic Thunder, viewers will see McBride get beaten, shot, blown up with a grenade, and tortured—all... More »

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comedy • Ben Stiller • screenwriters • comedian • Danny Mcbride • The Foot Fist Way • Pineapple Express • Tropic Thunder

Clooney, WGA Part Ways Over Disputed Credit

Filmmaker takes reduced role in union after Leatherheads flap

Apr 4, 08 11:41 AM CDT
(Newser) - George Clooney has all but severed his ties to the Writers Guild after a dispute over screenwriting credit for the new film Leatherheads, reports Variety. The film's director, co-producer, and star says he overhauled a weak script, but a 2-to-1 arbitration vote went against him. He didn't publicize the move... More »

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film • writing • George Clooney • labor relations • Writers Guild of America • Hollywood writers' strike • screenwriters

How Very! Heathers Writer Returns to Film

Sex and Death 101, out tomorrow, puts Daniel Waters back in left field

Apr 3, 08 5:34 PM CDT
(Newser) - Screenwriter Daniel Waters, who made "What's your damage?" part of American slang, is back. His 1989 cult classic, Heathers, paved the way for edgy teen fare from Clueless to Juno, but subsequent unsuccessful projects led him to obscurity. Sex and Death 101 puts him "squarely back into off-kilter... More »

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high school • film • screenwriters • Juno • movies • Christian Slater • Daniel Waters • Heathers • Winona Ryder • Batman Returns • Clueless

Strike-Idled Screenwriters Get Creative

Cash-strapped scribes pitch novels in place
of screenplays

Jan 28, 08 4:42 PM CST
(Newser) - The 12-week-old writers guild strike has brought film and TV production to a grinding halt but has fostered a boom in another area, the LA Times reports: print fiction. "Writers who have ideas but never had the time are turning to their book projects," says the VP of... More »

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novel • Hollywood writers' strike • screenwriters

Word! Fans Cozy Up to Writers on Picket Line

But plot suggestions could pose legal pitfall for scribes

Dec 7, 07 5:03 AM CST
(Newser) - Picket lines are offering a rare opportunity for fans to get in touch with their favorite striking screenwriters. In LA, "Heroes" buffs and aspiring filmmakers are trekking alongside some of the 12,000 members of the Writers Guild of America to lend their support, network—or just get an... More »

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Los Angeles • Writers Guild of America • Hollywood writers' strike • screenwriters • scriptwriters

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