Screenplays & Screenwriting

Palminteri wrote the play, "A Bronx Tale," which was made into a movie directed by Robert DeNiro. He is now in Woody Allen's "Bullets Over Broadway," playing a gangster turned playwright.

From the film "The Last Seduction," actress Linda Fiorentino and screenwriter Steve Barancik. Barancik's screenplay tells the story of a woman who robs her husband of the proceeds from a drug deal, and then leaves town. Fioirentino stars as "one of the screen's most formidible femme fatales ever" ("Variety"), as she displays her character's "spellbinding talent for getting exactly what she wants" ("The New York Times").

Mamet's plays include "American Buffalo," "Speed-the-Plow," "Glengarry Glen Ross (for which he won a Pulitzer), and "Oleanna." His movies include, "Homicide," "House of Games," and "Things Change." Mamet is best known for his style of writing, which New York Times theatre critic Frank Rich described as "burying layers of meaning into simple precisely distilled idiomatic language." Mamet has written several books of essays; he's just published his first novel, "The Village."

Detective novelist James Crumley. It's been ten years since his last book. In Crumley's fourth novel, "The Mexican Tree Duck" (Mysterious Press), redneck detective C.W. Sughrue (pronounced Shoog-rue) returns. Crumley gets a lot of materials for his novels hanging out in bars in his hometown of Missoula, Montana. Crumley has written three other detective novels.

Novelist Amy Tan. Her debut novel, "The Joy Luck Club," was a huge critical and commercial success, and it earned Tan a nomination for the National Book Award. It's now been made into a movie. Tan and Ron Bass wrote the screenplay. Marty will talk with Tan and Bass about making "The Joy Luck Club" into a movie. Ron Bass also wrote the screenplay for "Rain Man" for which he won an Academy Award. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

One of the pioneers of the American underground cinema, film maker George Kuchar. He worked in ultra-low budget 8mm, and 16mm filming in and around the Bronx, where he lived, creating works that showed the disparity between the fantasy of Hollywood dreams and everyday reality. Kuchar's films include, "I was a Teenage Rumpot," "Pussy on a Hot Tin Roof," and "Lovers of Eternity." Now Kuchar is now working in a new form, the video diary. The American Museum of the Moving Image is holding a retrospective of his work (Aug. 6 - Sept.

Producer Jeff Apple and writer Jeff Maguire. Their latest project is the new film, "In the Line of Fire," starring Clint Eastwood as a burnt-out Secret Service agent, haunted by the assassination of President Kennedy. Apple has produced hundreds of TV commercials as well as documentaries and promotional films. He came up with the idea for the film, and approached Maguire to write the film script.

Hall has been an actor, a private detective and a screenwriter -- he wrote the horror movie C.H.U.D. Now he is a novelist, writing mysteries featuring Stanley Hastings, a failed actor turned detective.

Price wrote and produced the new movie "Mad Dog and Glory," which stars Robert Deniro, Bill Murray and Uma Thurman. His most recent novel is the best seller, "Clockers." Christopher Lehmann-Haupt of The New York Times wrote "the signal achievement of "Clockers' is to make us feel the enormous power of these giants that are drugs, alcoholism, poverty." Price also wrote the screenplays for "The Color of Money," "Sea of Love," and Martin Scorcese's section of "New York Stories."

Ramis is one of the most influential forces behind some of the biggest comedy hits of the late 70s and 80s. But his influence is not generally known by those outside the industry. Ramis wrote for "The National Lampoon Show," and "SCTV." He co-wrote as well as acted in the movies, "Animal House," "Stripes," "Ghostbusters," and others. He directed the new movie, "Groundhog Day," starring Bill Murray.

Author Aljean Harmetz's new book, Round Up the Usual Suspects, tells the inside story of the making of the film Casablanca. Harmetz is also the author of The Making of the Wizard of Oz. She was the Hollywood film correspondent for The New York Times for 12 years, and is now a contributing editor for Esquire.

Bergman is responsible for the new hit "Honeymoon in Vegas," starring Nicholas Cage, James Caan and Sarah Jessica Parker. He also wrote and directed "The Freshman," and has a long list of screenwriting credits, including "Blazing Saddles," "Fletch," "The In-Laws," and "Soapdish," to name a few.

DiCillo's new film is a strange comedy about a untalented musician and housepainter with a ridiculously high pompadour, and a love for Ricky Nelson. Docillo created the character for a one-man show he performed in New York. Before that, he was cinematographer for two of Jim Jarmusch's early films, "Stranger Than Paradise," and "Permanent Vacation."

We talk with the new crime movie's director Carl Franklin's and screenwriter Billy Bob Thornton. "One False Move"is a low-budget movie about a drug deal gone bad, a brutal murder, and the dealers' flight from the police. Despite playing in only a few cities, it's getting critical acclaim.

Film Director Katt Shea (Cat Shay). She's an alumna of the Roger Corman film factory. And has a new film out "Poison Ivy," about a sexy manipulative teenager who insinuates herself into the lives of a rich, dysfunctional L.A. family and wreaks havoc. Shea co-wrote the screenplay along with the film's producer, Andy Ruben who Terry also interviews. Reviews of the film have varied from "laughingly bad," to "brilliant and powerfully disturbing."

Novelist and screenwriter Richard Price. His screenwriting credits include "The Color of Money," "Sea of Love," and Martin Scorsese's section of "New York Stories." He's returned to novel writing with "Clockers," a murder mystery set in the world of a crack dealer in New Jersey. Christopher Lehmann-Haupt of The New York Times writes "the signal achievement of "Clockers' is to make us feel the enormous power of these giants that are drugs, alcoholism, poverty." (published by Houghton Mifflin).

Michael Tolkin, who wrote the novel and screenplay for the new Robert Altman movie, "The Player" (Fine Line Features, opening wide tomorrow), gives a screenwriter's take on the way Hollywood works -- or doesn't. Tolkin also wrote, directed and produced the film, "The Rapture," now available on home video.

Writer and Director Ron Shelton. His latest movie is a movie about basketball, "White Men Can't Jump," starring Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes, and Rosie Perez. SHELTON is a former professional baseball player. He also was writer and director of the films, "Blaze," and "Bull Durham." (Interview by Amy Salit)

Filmmaker and screenwriter James Toback. Toback wrote the script for Warren Beatty's new gangster movie, "Bugsy." His previous films include "The Pickup Artist" and "The Big Bang."

Novelist and screenwriter Michael Tolkin. He's just directed his first film, "The Rapture," based on his own screenplay about a woman's search for faith. Tolkin's novel, "The Player" will soon come out as a movie, directed by Robert Altman.