Mentor’s Imprint

Having spawned numerous successful screenwriters while teaching his UCLA screenwriting class, teaching those who wrote “Con Air,” “Face/Off,” “Batman & Robin” and “Jurassic Park,” Lew Hunter advised his students to “be extreme” (“Blood, Guts and a Typewriter,” by Ernesto Lechner, May 30).

OK. Speaking for all of the struggling screenwriters in L.A. who actually believe that character development, dialogue, structure, subtlety and a damn good story really do matter, may I say with all due sincerity, however extreme--farewell, Lew Hunter; you’ve left behind a legacy of bombast and bluster, mentoring a generation of mediocrity, not genius.

DOUGLAS HERMAN

Santa Monica