Lew Hunter, longtime screen writer, producer, and Hollywood exec in film and television, as well as professor at UCLA’s graduate screenwriting course 434, interviewed 22 Oscar Award winning screen writers for this new compilation. He asks each writer the same set of questions: what is your process? Do you count pages or hours spent writing? Outline or not? Three acts, as inspired by Aristotle? Tricks? Secrets? He tries to encourage these writers to introspectively assess their writing process, and share what they have learned on their path to writing success.

His choice of writers is wonderful— Francis Ford Coppola, Oliver Stone, and Billy Wilder are known by all. Other may be known better for their credits than their names— Casablanca (Julius Epstein), Driving Miss Daisy (Alfred Uhry), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (William Goldman), To Kill a Mockingbird (Horton Foote), to name a few. Of particular interest is differences in process for original screenplays versus adaptations of other works, such as plays or novels. Many of the writers interviewed progressed from stage to screen, or television to big screen, or move between these media throughout their careers, and discuss the differences here. Some writers went on to direct their work, while others stayed within their own lane of writing alone. Most work solo, while others strongly desire the dynamic of collaboration.

Nearly all suffer from the lack of respect and fair compensation, compared to what directors and stars earn for their part in the process. Writers never hold copyright for their work, getting paid a fee to produce, then are cut off from earnings based on the success of their work. The fact that most readers will not recognize most of these writers’ names (unless you are a serious film lover) is testament to their obscurity; yet they are responsible for most every word of every scene, as well as the atmosphere, location, set, and other defining factors. There is no story to tell without the writer, yet they have struggled with little recognition or relatively fewer earnings than others on the project.

Hunter does a good job of minimizing dishing on stars or directors, unless directly relevant to process. The only fault I can cite is the redundancy of Hunter’s sidebar comments and prompts. We get to hear those over and over (22 times, to be exact), although they elicit interesting observations from the subject. If you are looking for the inside scoop on how original ideas develop into a structure and script, and then get picked up and made into the movies we admire and love, then this is the book for you. I’ll give away the secret nearly all of the 22 share— luck, talent, and obsessive work ethic are the ingredients for screen writing success. Forget the screen writing DIY books— write constantly, write your obsessions, write your passions, just write, write, write. Enjoy this look at the true spark of creativity and drive that makes the classics of the medium of our time. The Renaissance had art and sculpture, and we have the movies. Recommended to all film lovers.