Write up writers

PAGE 1 of Sunday’s Calendar promised an interesting story of an intern writer making good [“Must Love Cold,” Jan. 15.] Too bad Elaine Dutka didn’t get the memo.

She doesn’t mention the writer until the middle of the story, and then only grudgingly before hurrying back to the ho-hum stuff.

JERRY BUCK

Sherman Oaks

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IT seems like a recurring nightmare -- the same scenario every January, when Calendar lists capsule descriptions of the upcoming year’s movies [Sneaks ‘06, Jan. 15], along with cast and director, and neglects to mention the writers of these films. Close to 300 films are listed, and with a handful of exceptions, mostly for films that are written and directed by the same person, the people who conceived of these films or adapted them from another medium are not credited.

As the principal newspaper in Los Angeles, you ought to cover entertainment stories with accuracy. Promulgating the fiction that directors are the authors of films is a disservice to your readers. Imagine if the L.A. Philharmonic announced its season with listings like “Second Symphony, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen,” or “Piano Concerto in B Flat, performed by Peter Serkin.”

Though Beethoven and Mozart are beyond caring, the screenwriters who write our films aren’t.

PETER LEFCOURT

Los Angeles

Lefcourt sits on the board of directors of the Writers Guild of America, West.