Features
The Limelight and the Wilderness
Frost/Nixon writer Peter Morgan explores the psychology of ambition while adapting his hit stage play about the notorious 1977 TV interviews between the British chat show host and the disgraced leader of the free world.
BY AMY DAWES
A Life in Reverse: Eric Roth on the curious work of adapting Benjamin Button
The screenwriter draws a full-blooded epic from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s pithy short story and discovers that a life lived backward isn’t radically different.
BY JASON DAVIS
A Writer’s Guide to the Expanding World of Basic Cable
How to get up to speed on the new market for television writers in the once-barren, now-burgeoning basic cable universe.
BY SHELLEY GABERT
Defiance
Co-writer/director Edward Zwick teams up with childhood friend Clayton Frohman to illuminate a lost piece of World War II history as they chronicle the Bielski brothers’ fiercely violent acts of heroism and, of course, defiance.
BY JEFF GOLDSMITH
PEOPLE & NEWS
The Buzz
Longtime literary agent Nancy Nigrosh laments the industry’s revolving-door approach to writing feature films.
Breaking In
How Ryan Condal dodged a bean counter’s life and wrote his way into his super-hero dreams
Operation Checkmate: Jessica Postigo lands the assignment for a real-life thriller about the Colombian hostage rescue.
People
Chris Thornton drew inspiration from his own challenges to write Sympathy for Delicious, a drama about a wheelchair-bound DJ that starts shooting this December.
Anatomy of a Spec Sale
Science Fair won a blue ribbon from Disney for Creative Screenwriting fan John Sullivan.
Why I Write
The in-your face energy of India that Simon Beaufoy discovered during his research for Slumdog Millionaire unleashed the melodramatic writer within him.
Legal Brief
In this new column, L.A. entertainment attorney Chad Fitzgerald explains when you’ll need a lawyer and why.
Lost Scenes: The Day the Earth Stood Still
Edmund H. North slowly realized that in order to move forward while writing the original film, he had to wave goodbye to the last remnants of the short story.
Gift Guide
Some holiday seasons you get what you need, especially when gift-givers get clued in with this helpful guide to what s out there for writers
Product Review
Storyist for Mac gets inside writers’ heads.
The Pulse smarten offers a savvier way to take notes.
Last Words
Opposition stalks openly gay San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk in Milk, by Dustin Lance Black.
COLUMNS
Agent’s Hot Sheet
End of the World as We Know It
As Wall Street burns, can Hollywood survive?
BY JIM CIRILE
Our Craft
It’s All About Relationships
What does your hero want from others, and what do they want from him?
BY KARL IGLESIAS
The XX Factor
The Vampire Slayer
Melissa Rosenberg flexes her own powers to adapt cult favorite Twilight for the screen.
BY AMY DAWES
Guest Column
D.I.Y. Diary, Part 2
Ian Gurvitz moves into production during his high-risk half-million-dollar adventure into directing and producing with his screenplay L.A. Blues.
BY IAN GURVITZ
NOW PLAYING
Milk
Almost 30 ears after Harvey Milk’s murder, screenwriter Dustin Lance Black brings the story of San Francisco’s first gay elected official to the big screen.
BY PETER DEBRUGE
Doubt
John Patrick Shanley powers through doubts of his own to write and direct a powerhouse screen version of his Pulitzer-winning play.
BY AMY DAWES
The Wrestler
Screenwriter Robert Siegel, former editor-in-chief of The Onion, writes the role of a lifetime for Mickey Rourke.
BY PETER CLINES
Seven Pounds
A chance encounter with a former rocket scientist propels sitcom writer Grant Nieporte into the feature film circuit.
BY SEAN KENNELLY
Australia
Co-writers Stuart Beattie and Richard Flanagan teamed with Baz Luhrmann to dramatize the greatest and darkest moments in Australia’s history.
BY PETER CLINES
The Day the Earth Stood Still
David Scarpa’s take on a classic went through many stages.
BY PETER CLINES
Marley & Me
Scott Frank steps outside his comfort zone to adapt a popular book that may be more about a marriage than a mutt.
BY DANNY MUNSO
Role Models
For the first time, Paul Rudd, David Wain and Ken Marino bring their unique brand of comedic writing to a studio movie
BY DANNY MUNSO
Synecdoche, New York
Oscar-winner Charlie Kaufman makes his writing-directing debut by doing what he does best—defying mainstream expectations.
BY JEFF GOLDSMITH
The Soloist
Susannah Grant adapts the true-life tale of a gifted but mentally disturbed musician.
BY SEAN KENNELLY
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