Interview (Written): James L. Brooks

Screenwriter (As Good As It Gets) & TV writer (The Mary Tyler Moore Show)

THR ran an interview with James L. Brooks. His writing, directing, and producing credits are astonishing including TV shows like ‘Lou Grant’, ‘Taxi’, and ‘The Simpsons’, and movies like Terms of Endearment and Broadcast News. His most recent credit: Producing the terrific teen comedy The Edge of Seventeen.

What was your first break in TV?

News writing, and I loved it. I’m still a news nut — it’s getting rough these days, but I always was. I worked for CBS News in the aftermath of all the greatness. I actually brought coffee to Edward R. Murrow. They had a board [with phone numbers] and I remember memorizing his home number. But I was very aware of writers, of who wrote the television shows. All in the Family was breaking down barriers; that was changing the game. I remember seeing [Twilight Zone creator] Rod Serling’s dramas. And [Network’s] Paddy Chayefsky was my god.

Did you ever meet him?

Yes. I met him and [Chinatown’s] Robert Towne at a Writers Guild function, and they were sitting together. I asked each of them a very specific question: I asked Paddy Chayefsky how you write somebody smarter than you, with regard to Altered States, where the main character was a genius. I’d read Altered States on my honeymoon. It was maybe the second time in my life I cried.

What did you ask Towne?

I asked about a speech in Shampoo. He told me there had been some discussion with Warren [Beatty], the producer and star] about whether the speech [should change], and he was on the set that day, willing to die before anyone took out a word.

What advice would you give a writer who is starting out?

The simple advice is to write, but it only begins there. What exactly do you want to get out of it? What kind of writer do you aspire to be?

What kind of writer do you aspire to be?

Great question to ask, isn’t it?

For the rest of the interview, go here.

Twitter: @canyonjim.