The Schreiber Theory

by Kipen, David

• ISBN13: 9780976658337
• ISBN10: 097665833X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-01
• Publisher: Melville House Pub

Summary

With Oscar season upon us, David Kipen asks who's responsible for Hollywood's best movies? In an edgy and funny manifesto, critic David Kipen says au contraire to that old film school theorythe auteur theorythat gives all the credit to the director. Instead, in honor of "the mother tongue of America's first screenwriters," Kipen uses the Yiddish word for "writer" to coin The Schreiber Theory, which decrees that knowing who wrote a movie is often a far better guide to knowing whether the movie will be any good or not. Kipen's new heresy topples the old orthodoxy by studying the careers of screenwriters past and present in a witty, two-pronged attack: In part one, he dismantles the auteur theory and presents a convincing argument that screenwriters are the guiding creative geniuses behind the best films. In part two, he offers a compendium of mini-biographies of great screenwriters past and present. Who wrote Casablanca? Who wrote Twelve Monkeys? Who wrote Dead Girls Don't Tango? What else did they write? It all makesThe Schreiber Theoryan engaging read and a one-of-a-kind reference for movie lovers and film students alike.

Author Biography

With Oscar season upon us, David Kipen asks who’s responsible for Hollywood’s best movies?
David Kipen has been one of America’s leading book and movie critics for over fifteen years, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Boxoffice, The Atlantic Monthly and many others. He was the editor of Buzz Magazine and books editor of The San Francisco Chronicle. In September 2005, he became Director of the Literature program at the National Endowment for the Arts. He lives in Washington, DC and Malibu, CA.

Table of Contents

Pre-credit sequence : the mis-shelved library	p. 15
Establishing shot	p. 21
Introduction of the hero	p. 35
Flashback	p. 41
Arrival of the arch-villain	p. 49
Upping the stakes	p. 55
Death comes for the arch-villain	p. 61
Dolly out	p. 73
Roll credits	p. 85
The lives of the screenwriters	p. 87
The list, from Agee to Zaillian	p. 91
Post-credit sequence	p. 165
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.