Writing the Hollywood Renaissance: Screenwriters and American Film, 1967-1980

Materials held at the Harry Ransom Center will be invaluable for this project’s aim of offering fresh insight into the role of screenwriters in late 1960s and 1970s Hollywood, especially those so far neglected in research in this area. Drawing on draft scripts and correspondence contained in the Lewis Allen, Carole Eastman, Jay Presson Allen and Paul Schrader collections, this research will form the basis of a journal article (“Renaissance Woman: Carole Eastman, Screenwriting and 1960s and 1970s Hollywood” – to be submitted to the Journal of Screenwriting) and chapters 5 and 6 of a book (working title: Screenwriters of the Hollywood Renaissance).

Examining materials contained in the Lewis Allen, Jay Presson Allen, Carole Eastman and Paul Schrader collections, this project explores the contributions made by screenwriters to Hollywood cinema of the late 1960s and 1970s.

The project focuses on writers that have been largely neglected in academic literature – and especially female screenwriters such as Presson Allen and Eastman. “Writing the Hollywood Renaissance” offers significant new insight into screenwriting, film production and the relationships between creative and executive figures during this celebrated period of American film history.