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.
Paddy Chayefsky.
Paul Schrader.
Robert Towne.
Gore Vidal.
Quote from: EL__SCORCHO
*Writer-directors don't count for this thread.
why not?
Quote from: EL__SCORCHO*Writer-directors don't count for this thread.
Billy WilderDavid MametPTACoen Bros.Cameron Crowe
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.'
Paul Schrader
Alan Ball (American Beauty)
Ebbe Robe Smith (Falling Down)
A bunch of others (and you really should include writer/directors pal)
paddy chayefsky
robert towne
charlie kaufman
paul schrader
Ben Hecht.
...I've been watching some old Hitch lately.
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.
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.
Definitely Charlie Kaufman, but I also think Owen Wilson gets to little credit for his Wes Anderson contributions.
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
Quote from: dufresneQuote 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.
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...
Keith Gordon and Stephen Gaghan, off the top of my head.
Writers Heart "Casablanca"
If you ask Hollywood scribes, Casablanca has the write stuff.
The 1942 Kleenex classic, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman and directed, tops the Writers Guild of America's inaugural list of the 101 Greatest Screenplays of all time, the guild announced Friday.
The beginning of a beautiful friendship indeed. And who could blame them?
Casablanca's Oscar-winning screenplay, penned by Julius Epstein, Philip Epstein and Howard Koch, offered up unmatched repartee and some of the most memorable lines in movie history.
A small sampling: "Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she had to walk into mine"; "Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time"; "We'll always have Paris"; and capping off the coolest-sounding brush-off speech ever: "Here's looking at you, kid." (The line "Play it again, Sam," as cinephiles know, isn't actually in the flick but comes from the 1972 movie of the same name written and starring Woody Allen).
This poll, voted on by members of the WGA's East Coast and West Coast branches, was created to honor the best of the written word on the big screen.
In second place was a script Tinseltown writers couldn't refuse, Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 Mafia masterpiece, The Godfather, written by Coppola and Mario Puzo.
Rounding out the top five: Robert Towne's Chinatown; Orson Welles and Herman Mankiewicz's Citizen Kane; and Joseph Mankiewicz's All About Eve.
"This list and the films on it are meant to be scrutinized and criticized, dissected and collected, viewed and reviewed," WGA West President Patric Verrone said. "They are the literature of our industry and the legacy of our union."
The WGA countdown is similar in vein to annual lists released by the American Film Institute, such as its 100 Best American Films, 100 Best Thrillers, and 50 Greatest Actors (which Bogie finished atop), and Best Love Stories, on which Casablanca ranked number one.
The WGA's 101, which was cosponsored by Premiere magazine, was unveiled at a gala tribute Thursday night at the Writers Guild Theater, hosted by comic actor, writer, director and radio host Harry Shearer.
A who's-who of writers attended, including George Lucas, Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark), Nora Ephron (When Harry Met Sally...), Buck Henry (The Graduate), Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential), Bob Gale (Back the Future trilogy), Nicholas Pileggi (GoodFellas), Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) and Curtis Hanson (Wonder Boys).
The 101 finalists were compiled from 1,400 screenplays nominated by members for consideration. The only eligibility requirement was that the script had to have been produced. A total of 45 scripts were originals, while 56 were adaptations, with dramas and thrillers being favored heavily over comedies.
Coppola, Allen and Billy Wilder had four scripts apiece make the cut, while Charlie Kaufman, William Goldman and John Huston each had three.
Here's a rundown of the Top 10:
1. Casablanca (Julius J. & Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch)
2. The Godfather (Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola)
3. Chinatown (Robert Towne)
4. Citizen Kane (Herman Mankiewicz and Orson Welles)
5. All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
6. Annie Hall (Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman)
7. Sunset Boulevard (Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder and D.M. Marshman Jr.)
8. Network (Paddy Chayefsky)
9. Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond)
10. The Godfather Part II (Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola)
Entire List: http://www.wgaeast.org/greatest_screenplays/2006/04/03/list/index.html
Quote from: MacGuffin on April 07, 2006, 10:02:26 PM
Coppola, Allen and Billy Wilder had four scripts apiece make the cut, while Charlie Kaufman, William Goldman and John Huston each had three.
thats awesome cause a 'whos who of writers' are just as prone to overdoing it as we are! eternal sunshine at 24!
Husband and wife team Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon, who co-wrote four George Cukor films: A Double Life, Adam's Rib, Pat and Mike, and The Marrying Kind (Cukor's excellent Born Yesterday was based on Kanin's stage play, though neither Kanin nor Gordon were involved with the film script).
Casablanca above NETWORK?
:yabbse-thumbdown:
Eternal Sunshine is Number 24? Isn't it too early to place it that high? I liked it, but it got ranked higher than Taxi Driver -- about 20 points higher. I'm sorry, Taxi Driver should be higher on the list.
Why wasn't Heathers on the list? It has some of the greatest dialogue of all time. How about Spinal Tap? Or Airplane? Carnal Knowledge? Shampoo?
Sunset Boulevard should be in the Top Five. So much quotable dialogue. "I'm ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille."
these lists always sound like they were limited to oscar winners, or high-profile oscar nominees. which is why you won't find any originality in em.
A list I don't agree with? PREPOSTEROUS!