Writers Are There if Studios Only Look

The article on “MGM: Money Woes Make Its Script a Tragedy” (Oct. 27) was difficult and disturbing to anyone connected with the film industry. Decreased revenues and the ongoing court battle for control of MGM only further dampen the spirits of those whose livelihood depends on brisk ticket sales and healthy competition between the studios.

As I reviewed the MGM box-office report that accompanied the article, I was impressed by the fact that the most successful film on the list (“Thelma & Louise”) was written by a first-time screenwriter (Callie Khouri) who (reportedly) gave the completed script to a “friend” seeking feedback and asking whether or not there was someone who might be interested in such a project. Khouri’s “friend” happened to work for veteran director Ridley Scott; the rest, as they say, is history.

What makes that story so incredible is that without a “friend,” “Thelma & Louise” might never have been made. Without her “friend,” Khouri might still be sitting on her script, being as infuriated as I was to read that MGM Chairman Alan Ladd Jr. suggested one of the reasons MGM has been lacking hits is that good scripts have dried up throughout the industry.

With all due respect, if that is really what Ladd believes, then one need search no further for an explanation as to how MGM has managed to sink to its present dry spell at the box office. Not only is Ladd’s statement ludicrous, but it is also an insult to the talented and dedicated struggling screenwriters who, lacking a “friend” such as Khouri’s, cannot get an appointment with a “bad” literary agent, much less have their script read by anyone of the caliber of Ridley Scott. MANY fewer have an opportunity to have their script reviewed by someone like Ladd.

Is Ladd aware of what a struggling screenwriter has to go through to get a script read by a legitimate literary agent? Not one major agency will even look at a script unless the screenwriter is represented by a literary agent, and not one in a dozen “good” agencies will consider representing an unknown screenwriter unless he/she happens to have a “friend.”

Even if an uncredited screenwriter has an agent, chances are one in a thousand that his/her agent can actually get a script into the hands of a major studio head or to a top producer/director with an existing production deal.

It’s one thing for Ladd to say, “almost all of the other people at the other major studios that I talk to--top directors, producers and so on--they’re all saying the same thing: There seems to be no really good material around right now,” but that he might believe it is unconscionable.

Perhaps Ladd should change some of the numbers on his Rolodex and talk to people outside his inner circle.

The fact is that the film industry is simply choking on itself. Where once the studios supported and encouraged the development of new writing talent, today that same industry seems to pride itself on keeping anyone but a chosen few as far outside the business as possible.

Every agent in town seems hell bent on signing only those who already have production deals. Every actor who has ever spoken a word on film believes he/she ought to write, direct, produce and star in every project they’re involved in. Every producer wants to direct, and all the investors want is a sequel and a larger bottom line.

All the while, talented uncredited, unsigned screenwriters fall through the cracks, drown in an ocean of unopened returned manuscripts, become discouraged or wither away from the inside out.

No doubt Ladd is an intelligent, resourceful, dedicated professional, but on the issue of writing talent in Hollywood, he and the other studio executives he talks to are dead wrong.

If only Ladd will recognize the lesson that is right at the top of MGM’s bottom line--the most lucrative film his studio has produced in recent memory was written by an unknown female screenwriter. He and other industry executives need to cultivate fresh ideas and approaches from bright new screenwriters who have some really good material waiting to be discovered.