Burg & Myers worked on a few projects with producer Wendy Finerman. A big feather in her professional cap: She uncovered the novel "Forrest Gump" and was one of the movie's producers. In discussing that movie, Wendy said that the studio had hired several A-list screenwriters to adapt the book, but none of the scripts worked. They met with the prospective next writer who, after reading the book and the various script adaptations, announced what he thought the problem was with the current drafts: "No love story." He suggested playing up the Forrest and Jenny relationship as the emotional spine of the story.Imagine what Forrest Gump would have been without the Forrest - Jenny love story!
The name of the screenwriter who provided this insight to the creative process is Eric Roth, the subject of today's video interview.
Roth has numerous screenwriting credits including The Onion Field (1979), Forrest Gump (1994) for which Roth won an Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, The Horse Whisperer (1998), The Insider (1999), Ali (2001), Munich (2005), and The Good Shepherd (2006).
In this interview excerpt, Roth talks about his writing process wherein he starts his writing sessions every time on page 1. He says, it's "really a process of rewriting."
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2 comments:
"Forrest Gump" was one of the best movies made of all-time.
Very interesing stuff, the background story of how this classic came to be.
- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
I'm glad I'm not the only "start at Page 1 everyday" maniac. It's a writing quirk I abhorr and yet I can't think of any other way to do it.
The daily re-write. Oy.
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