Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman Page A

advertising, probably lost them twenty million dollars.
    Because what they were doing, in essence, was to pay Barbra Streisand four and a half million dollars not to play Barbra Streisand.
    And if the same thing happened today, they'd do it all over again....
    DIRECTORS
    Some of my best friends are directors.
    PS.: EVERYBODY KNOWS DIRECTORS ARE IMPORTANT. IN MUCH OF WHAT FOLLOWS, DIRECTORS APPEAR CONSTANTLY.
    SUFFICE IT HERE TO SAY THAT THEY ARE GOOD AND BAD, HELPFUL AND SUBVERTING, ENVIOUS AND SUPPORTIVE. WHATEVER THEY ARE, I FEEL SCREENWRITERS MUST SUPPORT THEM, BECAUSE DI- RECTORS ARE UNDER ASSAULT FROM ALL QUARTERS AT ALL TIMES.
    OVER THE YEARS I HAVE MET AND WORKED WITH A DOZEN PRIZE- WINNING AMERICAN DIRECTORS, AND THERE IS NOT ONE WHOSE "PHILOSOPHY" OR "WORLD VIEW" REMOTELY INTERESTS ME. THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF WHAT THEY HAVE TO "SAY" CANNOT COVER THE BOTTOM OF EVEN A SMALL TEACUP. (MORE ON THAT LATER.)
    THAT THEY CAN SURVIVE THE SANDHOCLIKE PHYSICAL DEMANDS OF THE JOB FILLS ME WITH AWE AND ADMIRATION. THE BEST OF THEM ARE WONDERFUL STORYTELLERS. AND THOSE BEST DO ONE THING SUPERBLY WELL: THEY HELP. EVERYBODY.
    PRODUCERS
    Producers may just be the least understood figures in the industry.
    Part of this is due to terminology. Once, a movie was simply "produced by" so-and-so. No more. A simple reading of to- day's paper shows that now there are people who "present" movies. There are "executive producers," "associate producers." There are "executives in charge of production." One recent film had two "executive producers," two "associate producers," and one "executive in charge of production," Now, you may well ask, what in the world do all these terms mean?
    I can answer in total honesty: I haven't the foggiest. Some producers are simply money men. They arrange for, or come up with, the cash, and they take some kind of billing (and fee) for their efforts.
    Others are packagers. They option a piece of material, interest an "element," make a deal with a studio, and head for points west. They literally will have nothing more to do with the picture than that.
    Others are in that oldest of Hollywood traditions, the "son in-law" business. The term is still valid, but with the collapse of the studio system, there aren't that many actual relatives by marriage on the payroll anymore. But there are lots of brothers or husbands. You want a star, he makes a deal that includes his spouse. The spouse gets billing.
    Most often now, they are agents or ex-agents who are now the star's partner. In the former case, let's say an agent has a hoi book; he'll make a deal with the studio to the effect of, sure, you can have it, but you'll have to pay me a little something extra or I'll go across the street. So they become "executive producers" or some other title more to their liking.
    On Butch Cassidy, for example, the original material was purchased by Fox for Paul Monash. Monash was the producer of the film.
    Then, when Paul Newman was signed, along came John Foreman. Foreman had been Newman's agent for years, had left the agency to become his business partner. In order to get Newman, guess what happened? Foreman became the "producer" and Monash suddenly was "executive producer." And what was their contribution to the film?
    I still haven't the foggiest, because Butch was directed by George Roy Hill, and on a George Roy Hill film, George is the giant ape. Because of his vast talent, his skill at infighting, his personality, he runs the show. He has been known to banish writers from the set if he finds them intrusive; the same with producers.
    None of this is meant to denigrate Monash or Foreman, who, I suspect, were terribly important to the finished product. What I'm saying is this: Screenwriters don't-at least this is true for me-deal all that much with producers. They hire us, we have meetings, they make suggestions, I go off and rewrite-that kind of thing. I have worked for some famous producers- Joseph E. Levine, Robert Evans-but the crucial