CALENDAR ingway's "How It Was." ALVIN SARGENT: Perhaps the most prolific in this category, especially since 1970, when Sargent scripts like "Sterile Cuckoo" and "Paper Moon" began appearing. He won last year's Oscar for "Julia." Since then his very -hot agents, AdamsRay -Rosenberg, have been faced with $500,000-and-up deals -only. JOAN DIDION AND JOHN GREGORY DUNNE: Top moneymakers from their first draft(s) of the Barbra Streisand "A Star Is Born." The Dunnes are also hyphenates in the best sense: Each produces other -pieces, collections, novels. In his current book, "Quintana & Friends" (Dutton: $9.95), Dunne offers perhaps the best description yet of the foibles of screenwriting-as-business. ROBERT TOWNE: Oscar -winner for "Chinatown" and long at work on his version of "Tarzan." The only member of this group to have been on salary from a studio (Warners) as consultant. For years, Towne was a rewrite man ("'The Godfather") until "Shampoo" and "'The Last Detail" propelled him into star status. FRANK PIERSON: A writer-director who maybe should have done both for "A Star Is Born," and did do both for "King of the Gypsies." Pierson is among the few in this category to also work in TV. He is executive producing Brooke Hayward's "Haywire" due on CBS later this year. LORENZO SEMPLE JR: The star member of the De Laurentiis stable, responsible for "King Kong" and the upcoming "Hurricane." Earlier credits include "Parallax View," from his novel. JOHN MILIUS: A younger (30ish) member of this circle, he's also a member of the friendly film-making troika that includes George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Milius wrote and directed "Wind and The Lion" and "Big Wednesday." His next credit will be as executive-producer of Spielberg's "1941," based on an original Milius idea. PAUL SCHRADER: Also in his early 30s and a hyphenate, responsible for script and direction of "Blue Collar" and the current "Hardcore." Schrader now is tackling the troubled "American Gigolo," from which John Travolta departed. Occasionally he'll write for lower fees, as on "Old Boyfriends," upcoming. WILLIAM GOLDMAN: Last but hardly least, Goldman is credited with seven films in the last 10 years, all but one ("'The Hot Rock") box- winners, among them, "Magic" and "All the President's Men." (More later.) There are, of course, always categorical exceptions. One recent -nominated writer was paid a mere five figures for a now -circulating first draft. At the other end of the. spectrum, there's Neil Simon. His participation deals with producer Ray Stark (Stark has filmed every Simon script since "Sunshine Boys") are said to be im-. mense and Simon's front money and percentage money probably would satisfy any dozen writers all together. imon's only consistent rival is GoldS man. written Since five books "Butch and six Cassidy," scripts. he's For "Magic," Goldman was paid $1 million just for movie rights and screenplay. Unusually, he employs only one agent, Evarts Ziegler, for both book and movie deals. "He wants both careers covered by one office." explains Ziegler. Goldman also sticks to one publisher, (Delacorte/Dell) for both hard- 38 00 h 1 From left, book agents Evarts Ziegler, Ron Preissman, Tina Nides and George Dis- kant, are always on the lookout for potential blockbuster scripts. and softcover editions of his books. The Goldman deals are as fascinating as his plots, if not more so. Consider Ziegler's recollection of one major Goldman book-to-film negotiation, on "Marathon Man." "Going in, we felt we had a home run in both fields, book and movie. Bill signed with Delacorte because he wanted to control both hard- and softcover rights. The deal amounted to $2 million for three books ('Marathon,' 'Magic'. and 'Tinsel,' upcoming). The 'Marathon' movie rights went very fast to Robert Evans and Sidney Beckerman for $450,000. (Note: That sum included script and rewrite.) Why? A matter of presold packaging: The paperback could tie in with the movie release. The timing was that right." There's more. Simultaneously with "Marathon," Ziegler in 1972 negotiated THE HARDY SOFTCOVER There's no question that movie •T tie-ins," companies sums depend up on ICM's paperback Lynn Nesbit. "If screenplay prices seem outrageous, remember that paperback sales are equally so. The problem is that if a house pays $2 million for one book, they're less likely to buy 10 books at $20,000 a crack." If Mario Puzo's "Fools Die" is the only $2 million-plus softcover to date, it's probably just a forerunner. (A softcover book costs only 20 cents to produce, up from 12 cents a decade ago.) Last year, 530 million paperbacks were sold, 75% of them to females under 34. Increasingly, the sellers are paperback originals (books without hardcover issues): 10 of every 66 books is a paper original. Customers seem unaffected by the fact that cover prices have shot up 77% since 1973. Bantam's Charles Bloch foresees a time with producer Joseph E. Levine for three other Goldman screenplays. The purchase price: $1.5 million for all three. "A Bridge Too Far" was the first, followed by "Magic," but probably not to be followed up by "Tinsel," Goldman's Hollywood opus. The galley proofs are still unsold and momentarily out of circulation, perhaps because Goldman is asking $1 million-plus for a book that's not yet a best -seller. Goldman himself plays it cool: "Bill doesn't have to come out here (from New York) to audition," understates Ziegler. "He only comes out to discuss works-inprogress.' A is new a William entry surprised in Diehl. these Until -time upper last reaches author, year, Diehl was an obscure Atlanta magazine writer and then "I made a million dollars in three months," he says. His novel is "Sharky's Machine" (Delacorte: $9.95), which is planned as Burt Reynolds' first film release of 1980. "Two years ago, I sat down to write a book," recalls Diehl. "My house was about to be auctioned, the power was being turned off, the phone bills were unpaid.' Eleven months and seven days later, Delacorte paid Diehl $156,000 on the basis of a six-page outline and 120 chapter pages. He managed to retain foreign and film rightstemporarily. Once "Sharky's" was in manuscript form, an agent latched on. Within four days, Orion picked up movie rights. For six figures. Further, Delacorte recently has offered Diehl a deal for two more books -at $400,- 000 each. If "Sharky's" hasn't made bestseller lists (and it hasn't), the author remains unperturbed. "I still feel like I'm Stallone doing 'Rocky.' Only I happen to be 51 years old." iehl's rocket rise from obscurity not so far off when the average paperback will retail for $3. "Everyone's fearful of that. You think it peaks, but like Las Vegas, it doesn't. With the rise of the paperback auctions we created our own monster." The -the bidding for paperback rights to major books -has become a furious subindustry of late. When Bantam paid $1.85 million for softcover rights to E. L. Doctorow's "Ragtime," the media mavens got worried. Would Bantam make its money back? It has seemed unlikely. But Bantam's Stewart Applebaum notes, "It is about to pay off. There are 2.75 million copies in print. You see, we always knew there was a long-term sale in the school and college marketplace and when Dino De Laurentiis and Milos Forman make their movie version. . When and if, then Bantam will reissue "Ragtime," you can be sure. A Big Book, in the end, is Forever. D -P.R. D of points Big up a Books: dilemma the in the scarcity world of material. "There's a drought," complains agent Tina Nides. "You should only know the titles the studios have bought, then let sit on a shelf." (Malraux's "Man's Fate" is a prime example.) Though certain best- have been hard-sells to movies, notably "Thorn Birds" and "The World According to Garp," everyone is scouting new material. "There's always been this anachronism, or dichotomy, about books languishing for is that years," that elicit says people the David move automatic on Brown. to Big but Yes. "What newer there's We are happens subjects still in an era of euphoric grosses, no substitute for the story." are new properties every minute, but let's put it this way: If a studio got 20 good Counters Marcia Nasatir, "I think there screenplays, would they make 20? The fact today is that everybody has to believe each fewer films are made." property is really extraordinary, because What makes for "extraordinary" -what moviemakers are looking for -is a moot point: "We're not trend chasers," claims and aware of negative trends: The disaster guess you could say downers are out. It's a subject is, I would think, used up. And producer Brown. "We're wary of trends feel- -good period, with classic exceptions like 'The Deer Hunter.' But one person's vision is another's anathema. After all, it rarely follows that everyone is in love with the trend same diversity girl." of Which some may of the explain the upcoming no- Please Turn to Page 35
