Naked Screenwriting

November 16, 2020
Hunter (Screenwriting 434) collects interviews with 22 prize-winning screenwriters in this top-notch volume spanning his career as a UCLA professor, revealing each artist “bar their art, soul, craft, and secrets.” The notable screenwriters range across generations: Casablanca writer Julius Epstein explains his “step outline process” in which he writes one sentence describing each scene, and Billy Wilder (Some Like it Hot) discusses whether a director must also be a writer (“Absolutely not,” he concludes). The interviews feature plenty of helpful tips, among them The Godfather’s Francis Ford Coppola’s recommendation to carry a notebook to jot down character sketches, while Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (Howard’s End) explains her choice to write in longhand so she can include drawings. Hunter writes with a playful flair in his introduction: “for the rest of this book, motion-picture yourself at UCLA at my 434 master screenwriting class.” This style carries to his interviews, which offer trivia (that Jean-Luc Godard was interested in directing Bonnie and Clyde), though some of it may be lost on those less familiar with the history of cinema, as little context is provided. Nevertheless, the volume offers unique access to a wide array of talent. It’s a treasure trove for Hollywood historians and aspiring screenwriters alike.

February 15, 2021
Hunter, who teaches UCLA's estimable Screenwriting 434 class (which he also turned into an eponymous book), along with cowriter Gifford, has collected writing advice and behind-the-scenes stories from 22 successful film scribes which are presented as interviews and include questions from Hunter's students. Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather) reveals that he initially focused on directing because of insecurities about his writing. Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor (Sideways) discuss how they write as a team, and also note how directing their projects has given them greater control, a perspective Callie Khouri (Thelma & Louise) echoes. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (Howard's End) shares insights into her long, successful collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, which allowed her to focus on the script and leave the rest to director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant. ""The horror of it all is that we all do it differently,"" William Goldman (The Princess Bride) observes. This collection of conversations with film writer greats will provide equal parts insight and relief for aspiring screenwriters looking to forge their own path in Hollywood.

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March 1, 2021

Screenwriting manuals typically walk readers through key structural elements and techniques, using famous scenes as their guide. Here, however, screenwriters Hunter (Univ. of California, Los Angeles) and Gifford provide a wonderful collection of interviews with 22 Oscar-winning screenwriters, mostly conducted in front of an audience of students and professors as part of Hunter's UCLA graduate course. Legendary writers such as Francis Ford Coppola, William Goldman, Oliver Stone, Callie Khouri, and Billy Wilder move between anecdotal stories and the minutiae of a writer's process, with a healthy dose of insider information on the business side of Hollywood screenwriting. The only failing of the book may be a lack of editing. Much in these conversations seems irrelevant to the book's focus, and the questions and chapter prefaces occasionally distract from the matter at hand. Yet in the end, the guidance of these 22 writers far outweighs this flaw. VERDICT A clever and original look at the art of screenwriting.--Peter Thornell, Hingham P.L., MA

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