Favorite Screenwriters

Started by EL__SCORCHO, May 19, 2003, 10:56:52 PM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

EL__SCORCHO

I don't know if anyone's done this thread before, but I was just curious to know which writers people in this forum liked.

*Writer-directors don't count for this thread.

godardian

Paddy Chayefsky.

Paul Schrader.

Robert Towne.

Gore Vidal.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

dufresne

Quote from: EL__SCORCHO

*Writer-directors don't count for this thread.

why not?
There are shadows in life, baby.

MacGuffin

Quote from: EL__SCORCHO*Writer-directors don't count for this thread.

Billy Wilder
David Mamet
PTA
Coen Bros.
Cameron Crowe
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Ghostboy

Well, some writer-directors also just write. Therefore, my list would include:

Paul Schrader
David Mamet

Two of the very best working screenwriters. I'm looking at the rest of the screenplays I own, but they're all by auteurs (LaBute, Tarantion, PTA, WA), so I guess they don't count, huh?

Scott Frank is very highly regarded, but I can't think of a single movie he's written that ended up being great -- they're usually just very good. I'd like to see his original script for 'Minority Report.'

chainsmoking insomniac

Paul Schrader
Alan Ball (American Beauty)
Ebbe Robe Smith (Falling Down)
A bunch of others (and you really should include writer/directors pal)
"Ernest Hemingway once wrote: 'The world's a fine place, and worth fighting for.'  I agree with the second part."
    --Morgan Freeman, Se7en

"Have you ever fucking seen that...? Ever seen a mistake in nature?  Have you ever seen an animal make a mistake?"
 --Paul Schneider, All the Real Girls

Alethia

paddy chayefsky
robert towne
charlie kaufman
paul schrader

godardian

Ben Hecht.

...I've been watching some old Hitch lately.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

Mesh

I'm feeling odd so I'll vote for Lawrence Kasdan, even though he's not one of my favorites.  His contribution to The Empire Strikes Back is grossly underrated.

soixante

Bo Goldman is probably the best writer who hasn't directed -- One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Melvin and Howard, Shoot the Moon.

John August and Mike White are good writers who haven't directed.

Overall, I would say that Paul Schrader is the best of all time.  Between 1976 and 1980 he wrote Taxi Driver, Obsession, Rolling Thunder, Blue Collar, Hardcore, American Gigolo and Raging Bull.
Music is your best entertainment value.

Just Withnail

Definitely Charlie Kaufman, but I also think Owen Wilson gets to little credit for his Wes Anderson contributions.

soixante

Three other great screenwriters who have never directed:

Waldo Salt -- Midnight Cowboy, Day of the Locust, Coming Home

William Goldman -- Butch Cassidy, All the President's Men

Mardik Martin -- Mean Streets, Raging Bull
Music is your best entertainment value.

EL__SCORCHO

Quote from: dufresne
Quote from: EL__SCORCHO

*Writer-directors don't count for this thread.

why not?

Because then everybody would put PTA, Wes Anderson, Coen Bros. Cameron Crowe, just like Mac crossed out on his list.

I just wanted to know which writers people like. In my opnion these people get screwed over big time. I mean, they fucking write the movie! In some cases, they write it so well that the director doesn't even change anything and shoot whats on the page. Then the director gets all the credit, pretty harsh if you ask me.

children with angels

Yeah, when Being John Malkovich came out, all you heard about was this amazing, original new visionary Spike Jonze - I was thinking, okay, but who came up with the Goddamn idea in the first palce? Sure Kauffman's getting the credit now for Adaptation (I see the movie as partly a wonderful 'fuck you' to a lot of the moviegoing/moviemaking public who never think about the screenwriter), but at the time...
"Should I bring my own chains?"
"We always do..."

http://www.alternatetakes.co.uk/
http://thelesserfeat.blogspot.com/

polkablues

Keith Gordon and Stephen Gaghan, off the top of my head.
My house, my rules, my coffee