Film Screenings / Programs / Series
FROM THE PEN OF…
June 15 – June 24
This is the second installment of an ongoing series called FROM THE PEN OF, designed to spotlight that brutally neglected figure most often forgotten in the filmmaking process, namely the screenwriter. Famously devalued and barely recognized by cinephiles more prone to celebrating auteurs and actors, screenwriters are rarely celebrated with the likes of critical studies or repertory retrospectives. While a few classic Hollywood screenwriters continue to earn attention (Ben Hecht, Preston Sturges, Dalton Trumbo, etc.), most have never received their fair share of credit or acknowledgment. This is particularly true of screenwriters who emerged hot on the heels of the demise of the studio system in the 1960s. While audiences may associate the works they penned more closely with particular directors-as-superstars, a closer study reveals that the sensibility and ingenuity of particular screenwriters shines through in each of these films. Over the next several calendars Anthology will focus on some of the most interesting, talented, and unheralded screenwriters from the last 50 years, connecting the dots between terrific, seemingly disparate films that, unbeknownst to many, just happen to have issued from the pen of a single, often unheralded scribe!
For this installment we highlight the work of Jacob Brackman, Lewis John Carlino, Carole Eastman, Alan Sharp, and Norman Wexler.
FROM THE PEN OF is programmed in close collaboration with author/musician Alan Licht.
Very special thanks to Alan Licht, and to Robert Downey Sr., Monte Hellman, Rudy Wurlitzer, Brian Block (Criterion Pictures USA), Chris Chouinard (Park Circus), Paul Ginsburg (Universal), Matt Jones (University of North Carolina School of the Arts), Christopher Lane (Sony), Judy Nicaud (Paramount), Caitlin Robertson (20th Century Fox), Todd Wiener & Steven Hill (UCLA), and Marilee Womack (WB).
