Seraphic Secret

Robert J. Avrech: Emmy Award winning screenwriter. Religious Zionist. Republican. Movie fanatic. Gun owner. Helplessly and hopelessly in love with my wife since age nine.

Screenplays

David O. Selznick Pitches a Movie in Israel

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Producer David O. Selznick

In 1958, producer David O. Selznick had an idea for a Biblical epic.

He explained to screenwriter Edward Anhalt, “I want to combine Mary the sister of Lazarus, the adulteress Jesus saved from the stoning, the whore who washed His feet, and the Mary Magdalene who was the first to see Him resurrected, into one character and tell the gospel story through her. And I want to tell it as purely a Jewish story.”

Anhalt liked the idea and set to work writing the Mary Magdalene script. When Anhalt finished he handed the screenplay to Selznick and the two men sat down to to discuss it.

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How to Write a Screenplay

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Casablanca Screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch Based onEverybody Comes to Rick's by Murray Burnett, Joan Alison
Casablanca, screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch
Based on Everybody Comes to Rick’s by Murray Burnett, Joan Alison

I get a fair amount of email from readers asking me about writing.

More specifically, how do I go about writing a movie?

Writing is ninety percent perspiration, ten percent inspiration. In other words do not wait to get struck with inspiration. That’s a load of romantic nonsense. In fact, that’s a sure way not to write. The biggest secret in Hollywood—at least for writers who actually work and make money—is how hard they work. Discipline is the name of the game. Organization is vital. An obsession with the minutae of a story is a requirement. G-d is in the details.

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