‘Creative Process’ Described as Buchwald Case Moves to Closing Scene

Testimony ended in the Art Buchwald vs. Paramount Pictures trial Tuesday with producer Danny Arnold, creator of long-running television sitcom “Barney Miller,” walking Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Harvey Schneider through the often harsh realities of the “creative process” as applied to Hollywood screenwriting.

During a series of questions about originality on the screen, Paramount attorney Robert Draper asked Arnold whether Western movies in which the cowboy winds up kissing the heroine are “unique,” to which Arnold answered, “No.”

“If he kissed the horse would it be unique?” Draper persisted.

“Not anymore,” Arnold replied in a deadpan that had the courtroom laughing.

Arnold, 64, the cigar-chomping winner of two Emmys, was testifying as a Hollywood expert on behalf of the syndicated columnist and best-selling humorist who is suing the film studio for $5 million.

Buchwald and French film producer Alain Bernheim claim that Paramount stole Buchwald’s 1982 story--about a rich African king who comes to America in search of armaments--after the studio let Buchwald’s contract lapse in 1985.

That same year, according to actor Eddie Murphy’s sworn deposition, Murphy, while on a bus ride, came up with the idea for an African prince who comes to America. His idea, which was committed to paper two years later in a treatment titled “The Quest,” evolved into the hit movie “Coming to America,” according to the deposition.

Buchwald and Bernheim allege that Paramount breached its contract with the pair to develop a motion picture project for Murphy out of Buchwald’s original story, “King for a Day.”

Of Arnold’s eight feature-film credits, perhaps the most recognizable is a 1950s comedy, “The Caddy,” starring Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin.

After nearly an hour of testimony about the elements that go into making a good movie story--plot, setting, theme, character, motivation, structure--Arnold was asked what the inspirational stimulus was for “The Caddy.”

“That I wanted to do a movie with Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin,” he answered.

Judge Schneider said closing arguments in the two-week trial will begin Thursday morning with the key issue being what the entertainment industry means when it stamps a story “original,” or claims that it is “based upon” another story.

“ ‘West Side Story’ is obviously based upon ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ but nobody in their right mind would contend that it’s not original,” Schneider told attorneys for both sides.