From The Plain Dealer (Cleveland): As the Munich controversy heats up, screenwriter Tony Kusher responds to the film's critics: "We are living in a world where a great deal of damage is done in the name of certainty." Meanwhile, he works on a gentle children's musical that doubles as an allegory about Hitler.

 

From BBC News: Northern Irish playwright Gary Mitchell is driven from his home and into hiding by a "small minority of idiots."

Thursday, December 22, 2005

 

From By Ken Levine: In his blog, the Emmy-winning writer offers advice on the best shows to spec this season.

 

From Nthposition: On the occasion of Harold Pinter's Nobel, buddy Timeri N. Murari recalls him as a great playwright but a terrible cricket player.

 

From The Simon: Next time you consider joining a screenwriters' group, pick carefully. Pick very, very carefully.

 

From The Guardian: After seeing a production of The Night of the Iguana in London, David Mamet protests "the beatification of Tennessee Williams." We had thought to suggest that Mamet's own plays might not look so hot in forty years time, but, on second thought, we applaud him -- the playwriting world needs less internecine backpatting and more candid criticism. Besides, at Boston's WBUR.org, critic Bill Marx has already given Mamet his comeuppance.

 

From The Evening Standard (London): Screenwriter/director Stephen Gahan stepped off a plane in Beirut and into the dark world of Middle Eastern, oil-driven politics. He survived, and his film Syriana has lived to tell the tale.

 

From the New York Sun: A new biography of playwright Lillian Hellman seeks to rehabilitate her reputation. Not so fast, says another of her biographers.