WGAE Fall Newsletter Is Here
Read about the latest Guild and member happenings, contract updates, strike memories, and more.
Q&A: Conan O'Brien
Before he hosted Late Night, Conan O'Brien spent two years as a writer and producer for The Simpsons.
So What Do You Do, David Koepp?
How to stare down a blockbuster sequel and why New York can trump L.A. even if you're employed in entertainment.
The Other Kennedy Assassination
As the new film Bobby, written and directed by Emilio Estevez, opens nationwide, lifetime WGAE member Budd Schulberg recalls his friendship with Bobby Kennedy and the night Kennedy was assassinated.
Blue Days, Black Nights: An Interview with Ron Nyswaner
WGAE member Ron Nyswaner--the Academy Award-nominated screenwriter of Philadelphia and the Peabody Award-winning Soldier's Girl--discusses the differences between writing for the screen and writing his book Blue Days, Black Nights, a memoir of love and obsession.
1984 -- 22 Years Later
Marshall Brickman is the 2006 recipient of the Ian McLellan Hunter Award for
Lifetime Achievement in Writing. Established in 1992, the Ian McLellan Hunter
Memorial Award is presented to a member of the WGAE "in honor of his or her
lifetime body of work as a writer in motion pictures or
television."
Following is the text of Brickman's acceptance speech at the
Guild East awards ceremony in New York City.
Ripped from the Headlines: Investigative Reporter and WGAE Council member Suzanne O'Malley on Writing "Real Life"
On June 20, 2001, Andrea Yates drowned her five young children in the guest bathroom of her suburban Houston home. It's a story that, three years later, hasn't lost its power to shock and appall. Investigative reporter and WGAE Council member Suzanne O'Malley began covering the murders and discovered more than a year later, after Yates' sentencing to life in prison, that the real story had yet to be told.
All In The Family: A Conversation with Naomi Sheridan
2003 WGA Award recipient Michael Winship talks with In America co-screenwriter Naomi Sheridan after a special screening of the movie she wrote with her sister Kirsten and father, director James Sheridan. In America received WGA Award and Academy Award nominations for best original screenplay and won the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Writing.
Thirty Days in Cape Town
Richard Wesley recounts his experiences in South Africa while teaching a Dramatic Writing course for New York University
Nicole Holofcener
Nicole Holofcener's new feature, Lovely and Amazing, is an ensemble comedy set in Los Angeles starring Brenda Blethyn, Catherine Keneer, Emily Mortimer and Dermot Mulroney. It examines the perversely complicated relations between a mother (Blethyn), her two daughters (Keener, Mortimer) and the men in their lives. Like Holofcener's previous films, the story has its roots close to home.
Neil Simon & Larry Gelbart
the narrator for Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and My Favorite Year which is also about writing for Sid Caesar -- is also told through the eyes of a novice. Is that just a coincidence, or is that a dramatic--
The Moment the Bell Rings
Budd Schulberg reminisces with WGAE News editor Susan DeCarava about nights at the Hollywood Legion and his life-long passion for boxing
It's All Show Business, Kid
Chicago screenwriter Bill Condon talks with Michael Winship about writing Academy's Best Motion Picture of 2002. Excerpts from an interview conducted before an audience at the MGM screening room in New York City. Winship's interview with David Hare, Oscar-nominated screenwriter for "The Hours," will be featured in an upcoming issue of On Writing.
David Hare: Adapting The Hours
Interviewed by Michael Winship
David Hare is one the world's most produced and prolific, contemporary playwrights, the creator of works that are compelling, entertaining and intellectually stimulating.
Finding Her Pleasure: An Interview with Erin Cressida Wilson
Erin Cressida Wilson is no stranger to the writing life. A dramatic writing professor at Brown University, a prolific playwright and screenwriter, she won the 2002 Independent Spirit Award for her screenplay, adapted from a short story by Mary Gaitskill, for the movie Secretary.
Her recent plays include Hurricane, The Trail of Her Inner Thigh, and The Erotica Project (co-written with Lillian Ann Slugocki). She is adapting her play Cross-Dressing in the Depression into Wilder, a musical with Red Clay Ramblers' Jack Herrick (1999 Tony) and Mike Craver, which opens at Playwrights Horizons in New York City in October 2003.
Currently, Wilson is reteaming with Secretary director Steven Shainberg to explore the controversial life of photographer Diane Arbus, based on the biography by Patricia Bosworth. In 2004 Simon and Schuster will publish her first novel.
American Splendor: An Odd Love Story
At a recent Writers Guild screening of American Splendor, screen and television writer Susan Rice spoke with Writers Guild East filmmakers Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini about their unique vision in adapting Harvey Pekar's comics of daily life in Cleveland.
John Sayles on Writing Casa de los Babys
Writer-director John Sayles talks with Walter Bernstein about his film, Casa de los Babys (now available on DVD), the relationship between writing and editing and the vagaries of foreign adoption.
A Couple of BAADASSSSS!(es): A Conversation with Melvin Van Peebles, Mario Van Peebles and Dennis Haggerty
WGAE Council Member Richard Wesley talks with the co-writers of BAADASSSSS!, Mario Van Peebles and Dennis Haggerty, as well as the film's inspiration, lifetime WGAE member Melvin Van Peebles, about the birth of Independent Black Cinema.
Book 'em Danno!
My years writing for HAWAII FIVE-O by Jerome Coopersmith. In addition to his television writing, Coopersmith is an award-winning dramatist. His theater credits include two Broadway plays, and number of others produced in regional and off-Broadway theaters. This article is excerpted from his memoir-in-progress and was originally published in the magazine Mystery Scene.
Letter Perfect: Tod Williams and John Irving Discuss Writing A Door In the Floor
At a WGAE Special Event, screenwriter and Council Member Richard Wesley interviewed novelist-screenwriter John Irving and writer-director Tod Williams about adapting Irving's novel A Widow For One Year into the movie A Door in the Floor, currently in theaters.
Discovering the Story: Filmmaker Marcia Smith on Writing Documentaries
Marcia Smith is a quiet crusader. As a writer for film and television, a published author and the Executive Director of Firelight Media, a not-for-profit company that produces documentary films, she's made a career of crafting vital stories that artfully present historical and contemporary social issues to a mass audience.
Keeping It Real
Sex and the City writers Julie Rottenberg and Elisa Zuritsky on writing together in New York City.
61st Annual Writers Guild Awards
VOTE ONLINE! Current members in good standing can determine the nominees and winners of Writers Guild Awards in the following categories: Outstanding Achievement in Writing for a Dramatic Series, Outstanding Achievement for Writing in a Comedy Series, and Outstanding Achievement in Writing for a New Series. For more information on voting, entering the Videogame Writing and Documentary Screenplay categories, and on the WGA Awards, click more>
LOWELL PETERSON - NEW WGAE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Lowell Peterson joins the Writers Guild of America, East as Executive Director. Read WGAE President Michael Winship’s letter announcing Lowell ’s arrival. more>
WGA 2008 Theatrical and Television Basic Agreement
Read the Schedule of Minimums established in the 2008 Theatrical and Television Basic Agreement. If you have any questions regarding to the application of these provisions or minimums, or regarding interpretation of the Basic Agreement, contact the WGAE. more>
THE STRIKE IN PICTURES
The strike is over, but the images and pictures remain. Visit the WGAE’s photo gallery of photos from key events and pickets. more>
WGAE Celebrates Its Contracts and Members
WGAE members celebrated their hard work and solidarity that resulted in new contracts. See some of the photos from the celebration here. more>
CONTRACT 2007/8 AND STRIKE RECAP
Writers are back at work after the 100-day strike. Background information on the strike and its issues, as well as the archive of strike-related videos and articles are found here. If you have any questions regarding the contract, strike, your return to work, or other related issues, we’re here to help. Email: mbaissues@wgaeast.org or call the WGAE at 212-767-7800. more>