With a reputation as the Godfather of screenwriting, Professor
Richard Walter has molded many of Hollywood’s most prolific
screenwriters. “Fight Club,” “Spiderman”
and “Men in Black” were all written or co-written by
his former students.
“The Wall Street Journal says that I am the prime broker
for Hollywood’s hottest commodity: new writing talent,”
Walter said.
His office is cramped with books and videos, and there are piles
of scripts on his desk. Two minutes into the interview the phone is
already ringing, and it’s a Hollywood agent on the other
end.
“I got a hot script, put on your asbestos gloves
it’ll burn your hands,” Walter says with his New York
drawl. “I said the writer’s name is Venis, it rhymes
with gee I dunno, Phoenix, and it’s spelled the same way
v-e-n-i-s.”
As far as college professors go, Walter is an insider to
Hollywood networking. However, when asked about the necessity of
knowing the right people in Hollywood Walter explains it’s
not true.
“There are a lot of myths and hoaxes about
Hollywood,” Walter said. “One of them is that
it’s all about who you know.”
“It doesn’t matter what your name is or your
connections. I know connected people who can’t get arrested
in this town,” Walter added. “It only matters if your
script is compelling.”
Convincing as that is, it’s a common joke that everyone in
Los Angeles has a script they’re trying to pitch. Obviously,
not very many would-be-screenwriters can just call up powerful
agents.
“Any scriptwriter should be able to put together a smart
query letter to an agent,” Walter said. “Just go to
wga.org and punch up “˜franchise agency
list.'”
Some of Walter’s students have done just that. One of his
former students, Gregory Widen, sold “Highlander,” a
screenplay he wrote in class, for over a million dollars after
finding an agent by writing query letters. This is but one example
of many Hollywood movies that start out as assignments in
Walter’s classroom.
“”˜A View From the Top,’ the new movie out
starring Gwyneth Paltrow as a flight attendant, that was written in
class,” Walter said.
David Koepp, one of Walter’s former students who wrote the
screenplays for “Spiderman,” “Mission
Impossible” and “Jurassic Park,” is now widely
recognized for being the richest screenwriter in Hollywood.
“It’s obscene how successful our students
are,” Walter said.
So what is the magic formula Walter teaches to bring about such
success?
“Nothing has changed since the ancient Greek era; people
are looking for conflicts and characters worth caring about,”
says Walter. “If the scenes don’t push the story
forward every inch of the way, then it’s not a good
script.”
Walter attended USC’s film school in the late 1960s with
George Lucas, and he contributed writing for Lucas’
“American Graffiti.” After USC, he worked for many
years as a writer at Universal Studios. Eventually, he came to
teach at UCLA after being offered the job at a Hollywood party.
“I’m not a big party guy, I come off as a flipped
out old hippie, but I’m really a very middle-class
kid,” Walter said. “I’m married to the first
person I ever married and have 2.2 children.”
Walter is humble about his success and accomplishments. He
explains that selling a first script is hard, but maintaining
yourself in the industry is the hardest thing of all.
“Hollywood (screenwriting) is the one place on earth where
you (can) start at the top and work your way down,” Walter
said.