‘Bourne Identity’ Unmasked : One Woman Who’s Cracked The Action-Adventure Barrier

Blood dripped from Richard Chamberlain’s nose. His knuckles were thick with scabs, and the 4-inch gash on his neck looked life-threatening. Chamberlain was a pulpy mess. But it was all for the sake of art--or at least television.

Chamberlain spent three months in Europe last winter making “The Bourne Identity,” a 4-hour miniseries airing Sunday and Monday at 9 p.m. on ABC. It’s based on Robert Ludlum’s best-selling action thriller about a man with amnesia who comes to believe that he may be a terrorist/assassin.

With the help of the woman he kidnaps (played by Jaclyn Smith), he gradually solves the mystery of why people are trying to kill him.

Because it’s such a rough-and-tumble adventure, Chamberlain and Smith were initially surprised to discover that the TV adaptation was being done by a woman, veteran screenwriter Carol Sobieski.

“I thought a man would have to have written this kind of violence,” Smith said.

Chamberlain said, “I did have a whispering second thought when I heard a woman was going to write the script.”

Women seldom write action-adventure scripts. The assumption in Hollywood is that men are better suited for writing or adapting this type of material. The bias was documented in the 1987 Hollywood Writers Report, commissioned by the Writers Guild of America, West.

The report noted: “Overall, women are roughly four times more likely to be hired to write for daytime serials as for prime-time action-adventure shows.”

Sobieski says she doesn’t know why so few women writers have cracked the barriers in Hollywood.

“Look at Ida Lupino,” she said. “She wrote some of the best action-adventure scripts ever made. She was an extraordinary talent. The important thing is to consider the ability of the writer without regard to sex.”

She jumped at the offer from executive producer Alan Shayne to adapt “The Bourne Identity.”

“I love Ludlum,” Sobieski said. “I’ve read all his stuff. In fact, when I learned several years ago that Warner Bros. planned to make ‘The Bourne Identity’ into a feature, I made overtures toward writing the script. They hired a man.”

The film never got made. Warner Bros. TV eventually took over the project and brought in Shayne, who had been president of the studio’s television division from 1977 to 1986. Shayne approached ABC with plans to turn “The Bourne Identity” into a miniseries starring Chamberlain and Smith.

He found supporters in Christy Welker and Nina Rosenthal, vice president and director, respectively, of novels for television and limited series. Both, it turned out, are Ludlum fans.

“We all felt that Carol would be our first choice even though she hadn’t written any action-adventure,” Welker said. “She wrote it as well as anyone possibly could. I think it’s wrong if women are typecast and not able to write in this genre.”

A Texan, Sobieski came to Hollywood in the early 1960s and got her start writing for “Mr. Novak,” “Peyton Place” and “The Mod Squad.” She then moved to TV movies (“Amelia Earhart,” “A Place to Call Home,” “The Women’s Room”) and feature films (“Annie,” “Casey’s Shadow”).

“I really like relationship stories better than action-adventure,” she said, “but there’s room within the genre for relationships and things interesting emotionally. What I remember about ‘Smiley’s People’ (the BBC miniseries based on John Le Carre’s spy novel) was Smiley’s relationship with his wife, not the details of the plot.”

“Women can write action,” Shayne said. “They just need a director who can direct action. That’s why I tried very hard to get Roger Young, who is famous for directing action (the “Magnum, P.I.” pilot, “Lassiter,” “Under Siege”). Roger created many of the action sequences. It wasn’t like Carol wrote every punch and fall off a banister.

“She strengthened the relationships, the love story and all the interior struggle Bourne has with his identity. An action writer would have simply skimmed the surface. This is a love story and a very complicated character development for Richard Chamberlain. We tried to make sure it’s not just blood and guts.”

Actress Smith said: “It is violent, but it may be the most intense love story I’ve ever done. There’s a very strong feeling between these two people. Maybe that’s because a woman wrote it.”

Sobieski enjoyed her action-adventure experience and would like to repeat it.

“It was a stretch,” she said. “I like to write out of my personal experience. I’ve never murdered anyone. I don’t know how to use a gun. I don’t even like to drive fast. But now I’m going to start thinking of new ways to kill people.”