Status
Call number
Collection
Publication
Description
The First Time I Got Paid for It is a one-of-a-kind collection of essays by more than fifty leading film and television writers, with a foreword by screenwriting legend William Goldman. Linked by the theme of a writer's "first time"--usually the first time he got paid for his work, but sometimes veering off into other, more unconventional, "first times"--these always entertaining (and sometimes hilarious) pieces share what it takes to succeed, what it takes to write well, and other aspects of maintaining creativity and integrity while striving for a career in Hollywood. Richard LaGravanese (The Fisher King, The Horse Whisperer, Living Out Loud) confesses that his first paid writing job was crafting phone-sex scripts. Nicholas Kazan (Reversal of Fortune, Matilda) explains why, in Hollywood, an oral "yes" often turns out to be a written "no." Peter Casey writes about the unparalleled pitch meeting for the award-winning series Frasier. Virtually every big-name writer in Hollywood has contributed to this collection, making it essential research material for anyone trying to make it in the entertainment industry, and a perfect read for movie and television buffs everywhere.… (more)
User reviews
The often entertaining (and often not) collection of brief memoirs edited by Peter Lefcourt and Laura J. Shapiro rarely describes how writers sold their first screenplays to the movies, and we can perhaps be glad of that. Most screenplays are collaborations, especially those involving beginners. Most such stories would probably sound pretty much alike.
Fortunately the 50-plus contributors interpreted the directions broadly, and the result is essays about a number of different kinds of "firsts."
Nat Mauldin, who would later write screenplays for Dr. Doolittle and The Preacher's Wife, tells of discovering he could write when he was called on to write an obituary for singer Ronnie VanZant, whom he had never heard of, that was well received.
Men in Black writer Ed Solomon remembers selling a joke to Jimmie Walker for $25 while in a comedy club, and enjoying the laughter when Walker performed the joke that very night.
Melville Shavelson tells of being sued by Mamie Eisenhower (his first lawsuit), who wanted to block the broadcast of a miniseries he wrote about Dwight Eisenhower's relationship with Kay Summersby, his driver, during World War II.
Anna Hamilton Phelan, who wrote Gorillas in the Mist, tells about getting her first agent. Gail Parent, who wrote comedy skits for Carol Burnett, describes what it was like earning the respect of male comedy writers. Charlie Hauck tells of getting his start after being encouraged by comedian Phyllis Diller. Peter Tolan, later to write Analyze This and The Larry Sanders Show, has an amusing tale about starring in a high school production of Bye Bye Birdie.
Screenwriters tend to be an anonymous lot, except to those few who bother to read credits. But a few contributors to this book have names that may ring a bell, including Alan Alda, Cameron Crowe, Delia Ephron, Larry Gilbert, Carl Reiner and William Goldman, who provides the foreword.
This is a mixed bag, but it contains enough entertaining show business stories to make reading it worthwhile.