# Unexpected screenwriters **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2022, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920 "2022-03-29T16:58:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/41 "2022-03-30T06:37:03Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > He also wrote the screen stories or screenplays for a couple of other Russ Meyer epics (Russ Meyer did Beyond…) – **Up!** and **Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens** > > In case you don’t know, Russ Meyer’s films are basically excuses to show women with exceptionally huge breasts. I doubt if any of the customers complained very much about the quality of Ebert’s screenplays I’ve seen those films (for academic purposes, of course), and they are incredibly _chatty_ movies, with each one having more lines of dialog than any three other softcore porn flicks - loopy exchanges, surreal soliloquies, and naked Greek choruses. I think the very fact that nobody was expected to care what the characters were saying gave Ebert the freedom to write whatever the hell was going though his English major/film buff mind, although I suspect a very large amount of drugs was also involved. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/42 "2022-03-30T07:40:44Z")
Whenever I am reminded that Dori Doreau from the TV series _Sledge Hammer_ co-wrote _Twister_ I am pleasantly surprised. She was married to Michael Crichton, though… ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/43 "2022-03-30T07:41:45Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > J. Michael Straczynski, who’s best-known for creating and writing science fiction TV ( _Babylon 5_ , _Sense8_ ), did a lot of other TV writing/editing/producing in the 1980s, prior to _Babylon 5_ . He wrote for several animated kids’ shows ( _He-Man_ , _She-Ra_ , _The Real Ghostbusters_ ), as well as for prime-time dramas ( _Jake and the Fatman_ , _Murder She Wrote_ ) actually, he ended up a producer on “murder she wrote” too for a couple seasons Something else I’ve heard when he worked on he-man he’s the one that came up with the idea of of the royal family’s back story … ie mom the queen was an astronaut from earth who ended up in another dimension (and wrote in she was always the smartest one in the room)and there was a twin sister who was stolen when they chased off the “horde” who became she-ra at a later date and there was a spinoff "darkstar "where the other astronaut on that mission ended up in an ad&d type of world and the sword was split in to and he always had to keep both parts separate so the evil guy wouldn’t get it ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/44 "2022-03-30T11:38:04Z")
Lead singer / songwriter of **The Smiths** , **Morrissey** , claimed before his success in music he wrote a speculative script for very long running UK TV Soap Opera **Coronation Street**. He says it was rejected and it was gently suggested whatever talents he might have were clearly in some other field. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/45 "2022-03-30T12:07:54Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > And earned an Oscar nomination for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen He also wrote the next five in the series (_Rockies II, II, IV, V_ and _Balboa_), in addition to directing all but one (John Avildsen returned to direct _Rocky V_). ---
**Author:** ![bryanmaguire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bryanmaguire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanmaguire)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/46 "2022-03-30T12:41:23Z")
He is probably as well known for an anthology series he fronted called Tales of the Unexpected for which he wrote around a quarter of the 100+ episodes. Each half hour episode was a 30 minute self contained story with a twist ending and we’re frequently dark. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/47 "2022-03-30T12:59:48Z")
Who exactly is credited as a writer, in what capacity, and in what order, is often an entire negotiation unto itself. How a writer is credited has an enormous impact on his or her reputation and income in Hollywood. The Writer’s Guild of America has detailed requirements for how writers are credited, and an arbitration process for setting disputes about crediting. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/48 "2022-03-30T13:24:23Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > I find this hard to believe, but apparently Quentin Tarantino worked (uncredited) on the script of _Its Pat: The Movie_ (1994). Tarantino also made some contributions to the script of _Crimson Tide_. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/49 "2022-03-30T13:58:59Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > He also wrote the next five in the series ( _Rockies II, II, IV, V_ and _Balboa_ ), in addition to directing all but one (John Avildsen returned to direct _Rocky V_ ). You don’t have to be a meathead in real life to play one on screen. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/50 "2022-03-30T14:10:07Z")
Basketball great and now writer Kareem Abdul Jabbar wrote an episode of Veronica Mars in 2019. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/51 "2022-03-30T15:44:41Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > Something else I’ve heard when he worked on he-man he’s the one that came up with the idea of of the royal family’s back story … ie mom the queen was an astronaut from earth who ended up in another dimension (and wrote in she was always the smartest one in the room)and there was a twin sister who was stolen when they chased off the “horde” who became she-ra at a later date and there was a spinoff "darkstar "where the other astronaut on that mission ended up in an ad&d type of world and the sword was split in to and he always had to keep both parts separate so the evil guy wouldn’t get it [Blackstar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstar_(TV_series)) debuted 2 years before [He-Man and the Masters of the Universe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He-Man_and_the_Masters_of_the_Universe). It was primarily a knock-off of _Flash Gordon_, with some weird stuff cribbed from Japanese anime and Tolkien. Both series were produced by Lou Scheimer, and most of _Blackstar_’s writers would later write for _M of the U_. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/52 "2022-03-30T15:53:58Z")
How about George Bernard Shaw? It may not be surprising that a playwright also wrote a film script but he was a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925 and later the recipient of the Academy Award for a script for a filmed version of Pygmalion. And then there’s the connection between Goodfellas (written by Nicholas Pileggi) and My Blue Heaven (written by Nora Ephron). Both were based on stories told by the mobster Henry Hill (who was collaborating with Pileggi on a book). The two writers were married, which is how Nora Ephron was talking with Henry Hill. It’s kind of interesting to view the two movies as different takes on the same stories. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/53 "2022-03-30T17:08:47Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > How about George Bernard Shaw? It may not be surprising that a playwright also wrote a film script but he was a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925 and later the recipient of the Academy Award for a script for a filmed version of Pygmalion. Not exactly unexpected – lots of playwrights have adapted their own work for the screen. I’m rather disappointed that Shaw’s script hasn’t really been filmed. The Leslie Howard/Wendy Hiller 1938 movie was rewritten – especially the ending – and it doesn’t follow Shaw’s recommendations for many scenes. Maybe one of these days someone will do it right. The Goodfellas/My Blue Heaven case is interesting, to be sure, but doesn’t fit this thread, really. Nobody is surprised by Norah Ephron and Nick Pileggi adapting their work. It’s only odd that they’re married to each other. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/54 "2022-03-30T17:13:46Z")
The interesting thing about the GBS story is his _possibly_ unique status as both a Nobel Prize and Academy Award winner. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/55 "2022-03-30T17:15:43Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > [Blackstar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstar_(TV_series)) debuted 2 years before [He-Man and the Masters of the Universe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He-Man_and_the_Masters_of_the_Universe). I remember that cartoon, vaguely. I had one of those “alien demon” toys throughout my childhood. I even found a picture online. [![](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Za4AAOSwR3NhhU19/s-l400.jpg) ](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Za4AAOSwR3NhhU19/s-l400.jpg) Thanks for jogging my memory, I had completely forgotten about the existence of that cartoon or its toys. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/56 "2022-03-30T17:51:38Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Film critic Roger Ebert wrote the screenplay for the critically panned **Beyond the Valley of the Dolls**. I watched that just for laughs. It wasn’t any worse than the original. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/57 "2022-03-30T17:54:16Z")
I just watched Hitchcock’s “Foreign Correspondent,” and Robert Benchley the humorist has a screen credit for the dialog. He also had a leading role in the movie. I read Benchley when I was in high school, and I heard his work quite clearly. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/58 "2022-03-30T18:02:36Z")
A 10th grade English class (26 students) wrote an episode of “Bewitched” [Sisters at Heart - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisters_at_Heart) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/59 "2022-03-30T18:18:49Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I just watched Hitchcock’s “Foreign Correspondent,” and Robert Benchley the humorist has a screen credit for the dialog. He also had a leading role in the movie. I read Benchley when I was in high school, and I heard his work quite clearly. If you look on the IMDB you se that Benchley has 38 writing credits, mostly for shorts, which I think he frequently acted in. The only case I’m familiar with is the Disney production **The Reluctant Dragon** , a partially animated little feature that Benchley both wrote (at least part of) and appeared in. > **[Robert Benchley | Actor, Writer, Producer](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0070361/)** > > Known for: Foreign Correspondent, I Married a Witch, Flesh and Fantasy ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920/60 "2022-03-30T18:19:15Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > A 10th grade English class (26 students) wrote an episode of “Bewitched” > [Sisters at Heart - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisters_at_Heart) Very interesting. I hadn’t heard about that before. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-screenwriters/961920.md?page=4)