The Writer Speaks: Oral Histories of Film and Television Writers

Between 1995 and 2013, the Writers Guild Foundation recorded interviews with prominent writers about their careers and about their working lives and practices. In all, 64 interviews were completed and these are all freely available for viewing in our library and on our YouTube channel. These interviews are fascinating and inspirational glimpses into the minds of some of Hollywood’s most accomplished writers.

Interviews available:

Edward Anhalt, Walter Bernstein, Charles Bennett, Robert Benton, Robert Blees, Irving Brecher, Marshall Brickman, James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, Jean Rouverol Butler, Lionel Chetwynd, Bob Carroll & Madelyn Pugh Davis, Barbara Corday, David Dortort, Julius J. Epstein, DC Fontana, Devery Freeman, Lowell Ganz & Babaloo Mandel, Lila Garrett, John Gay, Mel Goldberg, Bo Goldman, William Goldman, Everett Greenbaum, Buck Henry, Austin & Irma Kalish, Fay Kanin, Millard Kaufman, Hal Kanter, Christopher Knopf, Norman Lear, Ernest Lehman, William Link, David Lloyd, William Ludwig, Loring Mandel, Allan Manings, John Mantley, Ann Marcus, Garry Marshall, Arthur Marx, Richard Matheson, Paul Mazursky, John McGreevey, Frank Pierson, Abe Polonsky, Carl Reiner, Del Reisman, Bill Richmond, Lorenzo Semple Jr., Alvin Sargent, Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf, Arnold Schulman, Sherwood Schwartz, Mel Shavelson, Sidney Sheldon, Treva Silverman, Leonard Stern, Stewart Stern, David Swift, Dan Taradash, Robert Towne, Saul Turteltaub, and Billy Wilder.

Beginning in 2013, the WGF began co-producing oral history interviews with our friends at the Television Academy Foundation as part of their program, The Interviews. We share research and the content from the interviews, which can be viewed in their entirety here. Interviewees completed so far are: Sam Bobrick, Joshua Brand, Ron Clark, Elias Davis, Harlan Ellison, Ron Friedman, Carol Gottlieb, Walon Green, David Isaacs, Arnie Kogen, Rita Lakin, Ken Levine, Thad Mumford, Bernie Orenstein, David Pollock, John Wells, Dan Wilcox, Larry Wilmore, Hugh Wilson, Alan Zweibel.