Sandra starts us off.
I was reading one of your Friday questions on MASH movie.
You said "we always had great respect for the movie". Did you like the script of Ring Lardner Jr.?
It is said that the poor guy was cheated out of proper praise, since Altman went around saying that he re-wrote the script and took all the praise - which seems to happen all the time in Hollywood.
And also in the same answer you have said that Richard Hooker earned just peanuts. Was he compensated later for the successful TV show, or just stiffed as usual by Hollywood.
I did mean the screenplay for the original movie. Altman gave it a more naturalistic tone, allowing dialogue to overlap, some ad libbing, etc. But it was there in Ring Lardner Jr.’s script.
Richard Hooker (a pseudonym) sold away his rights to MASH, including TV rights. Remember, at the time his book was not selling well so for a major studio to offer to buy it and turn it into a major motion picture, I’m sure Hooker was happy to make the deal and take the money. Little did he (or anyone) know that a TV series would stem from the movie and that it would be a giant cash cow. Thus he was very bitter and understandably did not want to participate in the series in any way.
Robert Altman was not thrilled with the series either I understand but eventually came around. Robert was also not too happy that his son made way more than him on MASH because he wrote the stupid lyrics to the MASH theme.
Brian asks:
When I was watching reminiscences about the Dick Van Dyke Show, Rose Marie said that when she saw the script, she had a great guy for the Buddy Sorrell part, which was Morey Amsterdam. Keeping in mind that there are many levels of approval and the writers have their own ideas about who they want when the script is written, do you have any stories of actors recommending someone that may or may not have been your choice, but ended up getting the part?
It hasn’t happened to me very often in television but it happens a lot in the theatre. Especially when there’s no budget for a casting director. I have to rely on relationships I have with certain actors, and I will frequently ask them to recommend people. And for the most part that has paid dividends. I’ve cast a number of these recommendations and they turned out to be sensational.
That said, I’ve become my own casting director. I will go to one-act festivals or local productions and keep track of which actors I thought were great. Then I keep them and their contact info in a file for further use. I’ve hired quite a few actors this way.
Mike Bloodworth queries:
I'm fairly sure that you don't write on a typewriter. But, I'm curious as to whether you use some of the other modern conveniences. For example, do you use "Final Draft" or similar script writing software? Do you have "Grammarly" on your computer? Etc. Are they essentially requirements these days? As someone who still composes in longhand on a legal pad I'd like to know.
I use FINAL DRAFT. It’s pretty much become the industry standard. I used to use MOVIE MAGIC, which was similar and I actually liked better, but FINAL DRAFT has improved and like I said, that’s what everyone uses.
One thing I like about FINAL DRAFT is their tech support has been great. At least for me.
But all of these script writing programs are amazing when compared to typing and always shifting the tabs then needing white out to erase things and “A” pages if you wanted to add to a scene but not have to rewrite the entire scene.
And finally, slgc asks:
Do you ever listen to the current broadcasters of baseball teams whose games you used to call?
I love Ted Leitner of the Padres, but otherwise no. It’s not like I’m boycotting them, I just have other announcing teams I like better.
What’s your Friday Question? And again, happy birthday, Dave.
from By Ken Levine
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