Selected Written Interviews with Screenwriters & Playwrights
Fifty Playwrights on Their Craft by 
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ISBN: 1474239021Date: 2018-01-25In a series of interviews with fifty playwrights from the US and UK, this book offers a fascinating study of the voices, thoughts, and opinions of today's most important dramatists. Filled with probing questions, Fifty Playwrights on their Craft explores ideas such as how does playwriting help a global dialogue; where do dramatists find the ideas that become the stories and narratives within their plays; how can the stage inform the writer's creative process; how does crossing boundaries between art forms push the living art form of theatre-making forward; and will there be playwrights in another 50 years? Through these interrogating interviews we come to understand how and why playwrights write what they do and gain insight into their processes and motivations.
The 53rd State Occasional No. 1 by ISBN: 9780985757748Date: 2013-08-06Each edition of theOccasional invites a guest editor to talk with artists, thinkers and members of our community about questions that we have and topics that move us. For the inaugural issue, we invited actor/director/genie Paul Lazar to do the asking, and in turn he invited Jess Barbagallo, Tymberly Canale, Steve Cuiffo, Eric Dyer, Erik Ehn, Jim Findlay, Dayna Hanson, Keith Hennessy, Molly Hickok, Kristen Kosmas, Young Jean Lee, Trey Lyford, Kirk Lynn, Annie-B Parson, Kourtney Rutherford, Tina Satter, Sheena See, ScottShepherd, Pete Simpson, Geoff Sobelle, Susie Sokol, and Karinne Keithley Syers to do the responding.
Focus on Playwrights: Portraits and Interviews by ISBN: 1611177154Date: 2016-07-30Susan Johan interviews explore the writers' personal and creative journeys including their inspirations, roadblocks, and obsessions, which influenced their work on paper and on the stage.
What Playwrights Talk about When They Talk about Writing by ISBN: 0300211449Date: 2017-02-21The art and craft of playwriting as explored in candid conversations with some of the most important contemporary dramatists: Edward Albee, Lanford Wilson, Lynn Nottage, A. R. Gurney, and a host of other major creative voices of the theater discuss the art of playwriting, from inspiration to production, in a volume that marks the tenth anniversary of the Yale Drama Series and the David Charles Horn Foundation Prize for emerging playwrights.
Conversations with Lorraine Hansberry by ISBN: 9781496829634Date: 2020-12-28Conversations with Lorraine Hansberry is the first volume to collect all of her substantive interviews in one place, including many radio and television interviews that have never before appeared in print. The twenty-one interviews collected here - ranging from just before the Broadway premier of A Raisin in the Sun to less than six months before Hansberry's death - offer an incredible window into Hansberry's aesthetic and political thought.
Suzan-Lori Parks in Person by - This link opens in a new window
ISBN: 9780415624916Date: 2013-12-04This collection of interviews offers unprecedented insight into the plays and creative works of Suzan-Lori Parks, as well as being an important commentary on contemporary theater and playwriting, from jazz and opera to politics and cultural memory. Suzan-Lori Parks in Person contains 18 interviews, some previously untranscribed or specially undertaken for this book, plus commentaries on her work by major directors and critics, including Liz Diamond, Richard Foreman, Bonnie Metzgar and Beth Schachter.
The Women Who Write the Movies: From Frances Marion to Nora Ephron by ISBN: 9781559722513Date: 1995-09-01What changed the screenwriter imbalance from women outnumbering men ten to one until the mid-1920s to the current situation in which there are only 33 women screenwriters and over 1500 men. These two histories of women screenwriters in American films both approach that same question by different routes. Both works examine specific screenwriters starting with the early silents and continuing to the present day. With some exceptions, they discuss the same writers and frequently use the same quotes.
The Writers: A History of American Screenwriters and their Guild by ISBN: 9780813571393Date: 2016-09-01The Writers is the only comprehensive qualitative analysis of the history of writers and writing in the film, television, and streaming media industries in America. Featuring in-depth interviews with over fifty writers--including Mel Brooks, Norman Lear, Carl Reiner, and Frank Pierson--The Writers delivers a compelling, behind-the-scenes look at the role and rights of writers in Hollywood and New York over the past century.
Screenwriters: America's Storytellers in Portrait by ISBN: 9781883318185Based on their major show at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Science, award winning authors Lumme and Manninen reveal the hidden talents behind Hollywood's most famous films. Forty-eight leading screenwriters are introduced in brilliant portrait photography and their own revealing words. From Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard), Ernest Lehman (North By Northwest) and Robert Towne (The Firm) to Oliver Stone (Platoon), Nora Ephron (Sleepless In Seattle), Richard La Gravanese (Beloved) and Steven Zaillan (Schindler's List).
Naked Screenwriting: twenty-two Oscar-winning screenwriters bare their secrets to writing by ISBN: 9781538137956Date: 2021-03-15Award-winning screenwriters reveal their Hollywood secrets in crafting brilliant stories and methodology through interviews with world-renowned UCLA screenwriting professor Lew Hunter. Naked Screenwriting includes interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Billy Wilder, Oliver Stone, Bruce Joel Rubin, William Goldman, Julius Epstein, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor, Alfred Uhry, Tom Schulman, Ted Tally, Ruth Prawer Jabvola, Eric Roth, Jean-Claude Carriere, Frank Pierson, David Ward, Horton Foote, Ron Bass, Alan Ball, Callie Khouri, Robert Benton, Irving Ravetch, and Harriet Frank Junior. Never before has a book covered Oscar-winning writers so thoroughly, shedding insight and wisdom into the art of screenwriting.
Classic American Films: Conversations with Screenwriters by ISBN: 9780313348983Date: 2007-11-30Classic American Films explores the origin and development of many of the most influential and revered films in cinema history, and does so with the aid and insight of the people who actually wrote the screenplays. These lively, candid, in-depth interviews are filled with fascinating new material (details, anecdotes, judgments, and opinions) about the creative and collaborative processes that went into the making of these extraordinary films.
Backstory 5: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1990s by ISBN: 9780520251052Date: 2009-10-27Patrick McGilligan continues his celebrated interviews with exceptional screenwriters in Backstory 5, focusing on the 1990s. Emphasizing the craft of writing and the process of collaboration, this new volume looks at how Hollywood is changing to meet new economic and creative challenges. Backstory 5 explores how these writers come up with their ideas, how they go about adapting a stage play or work of fiction, how they organize and structure their work, and much more.
Selected Media Interviews with Playwrights and Screenwriters
A Conversation with DGF Traveling Master Paula Vogel (2016)
Paula Vogel, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of "How I Learned to Drive," "The Baltimore Waltz," and "The Mineola Twins" among others, leads a public workshop at the Minneapolis Playwrights' Center as part of The Dramatists Guild Foundation's Traveling Masters Program. Published on the DGF Youtube Channel on Jul 21, 2016.
Charles Fuller in Conversation with Lynn Nottage (2013)
The Legacy Project: Volume II documents and preserves the creative process of America's most esteemed writers for the theater in a series of filmed conversations, each featuring an established stage author (or team of collaborators) being interviewed by an emerging writer. Charles Fuller is the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his drama A Soldiers Play. He also founded the Afro-American Arts Theatre in Philadelphia. Other plays include the Obie-winning Zooman and the Sign, The Perfect Party, and The Brownsville Raid. Interviewed by Lynn Nottage (Ruined).
Part of Video Series - The Legacy Project: Dramatists Talk about Their Work - collection available on Alexander Street Press. UCLA students, staff, and faculty access through Alexander Street Press. Log into the campus VPN or proxy server to view video.
I AM THEATRE: Nilo Cruz (2011)
"Born in Cuba and raised in Miami, Florida, Nilo Cruz is best known for his play ANNA IN THE TROPICS, which won the Steinberg award, the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and received a Tony nomination. His other plays include DANCING ON HER KNEES, NIGHT TRAIN TO BOLINA, A PARK IN OUR HOUSE, TWO SISTERS AND A PIANO, BEAUTY OF THE FATHER, LORCA IN A GREEN DRESS among others." Published on the IAmTheatre Youtube Channel on Nov. 17, 2011.
Greeks in the Barrio - A Conversation with Luis Alfaro (2020)
"How are the ancient texts relevant for contemporary audiences experiencing these stories again, or possibly for the first time? What continues to make these stories resonate beyond their original context? Join award-winning playwright, poet, performer, and activist Luis Alfaro in conversation with Dr. Rosa Andújar, editor of The Greek Trilogy of Luis Alfaro, as they explore the making of contemporary theater based on ancient Greek classics." Published on the Getty Museum Youtube Channel on Nov. 16, 2020.
Get Used to It: Ep. 54, "Voices of Our Lives: Luis Alfaro." (1998)
From the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Original air date: July 1998. Host: Sheila James Kuehl. Guests: Luis Alfaro.
Writing Advice from Neil Gaiman | Discover MasterClass | MasterClass (2019)
"Not constrained by genre or medium, Neil’s work includes poetry, short stories, journalism, novels, graphic novels, screenplays, and books for young readers. In Neil Gaiman’s MasterClass, the author of Coraline, American Gods, Stardust, and The Sandman series teaches his approach to the art and craft of storytelling." Published on the Masterclass Youtube Channel on Jul 19, 2019.
UCLA does not provide MasterClass subscriptions, a personal subscription must be purchased.
Alfonso Cuarón | BAFTA Screenwriter's Lecture Series (2019)
Alfonso Cuarón (Roma, Gravity) traces the course of his celebrated career as a filmmaker, breaking down his process and detailing exactly what inspires him. Published on the BAFTA Youtube Channel on January 23, 2019.
Spike Lee | David Lean Lecture 2018 | On Directing (2018)
BAFTA-winning director, producer and writer, Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing, Inside Man, BlacKkKlansman) delivers BAFTA’s prestigious film lecture and shares insights into his career and his craft. Published on BAFTA Youtube Channel on April 14, 2020.
Part of the ongoing Hollywood Reporter Roundtables Conversations with fillmmakers. Chinonye Chukwu (Till), Daniel Kwan (Everything Everywhere All At Once), Jordan Peele (Nope), Martin McDonagh (The Banshees Of Inisherin), Rian Johnson (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), Tony Kushner (The Fabelmans) joined The Hollywood Reporter to talk about their respective projects. Published on the THR Youtube Channel on Nov. 22, 2022.