I originally posted this on September 14, 2008. Since our 14 Days of Screenplays script yesterday was Chinatown, I figured it was worth revisiting this interview with its writer Robert Towne.

Today’s special video interview features Robert Towne. His script to Chinatown (1974) is generally acknowledged to be one of the best ever written and it won an Academy Award for best original screenplay. Towne has numerous other writing credits including The Last Detail (1973), Shampoo (1975), Personal Best (1982), Tequila Sunrise (1988), and Mission Impossible (1996), but perhaps he’s most known in Hollywood as a “script doctor,” having written on (uncredited) a slew of movies including Bonnie and Clyde (1967), The Parallax View (1974), Heaven Can Wait (1978), and Eight Million Ways to Die (1986).

This interview in three parts is from a wonderful series called “Word Into Image”.

UPDATE: If one needs any proof that being a top-flight screenwriter is not always a bowl full of profit participating cherries, take a moment to read this New York Times article from 1988 about Towne, as he discusses a particularly dark time in his life.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three