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The Writers Guild Foundation collections
In conjunction with UCLA Film & Televison Archive's 60th anniversary celebration of the classic anthology series Playhouse 90, the Writers Guild Foundation will exhibit a selection of vintage scripts at the Billy Wilder Theater on Saturday, October 1. We visited the Writers Guild library and archive, which preserves film and television scripts, personal papers of important writers, early Guild records, production notes, photographs, rare books and other historical materials. We spoke with processing archivist Francesca Krampe:
Writers Guild Foundation
“The Writers Guild Foundation was established in 1966 by members of the Writers Guild of America, West as a charitable and educational California corporation. Its declared purpose was to ‘encourage and promote excellence in writing in the field of communication and performing arts and the continuing education of writers in this field, and to foster and encourage communication among writers.’ 50 years on, that mission lives on through our public events for aspiring film and television writers, our Veterans Writing Program, and, of course, through our library and archive, both open to the public. Archives are often thought of as places where things are locked away and unseen in a dark vault. While preservation is still our mission, we’re really interested in bringing materials out of the dark – to be touched – to be used – and to inspire future writers.”
The desk set of Robert Bloch, author of Psycho.
Billy Wilder's personal collection of film scripts.
Collection Highlights
“Our archival holdings date back over 100 years and include the earliest documents pertaining to the founding of the first entertainment union, the Writers Guild of America. The Guild records include everything from early Guild applications filled out by Dorothy Parker, Preston Sturges, Dashiell Hammett, and Lillian Hellman to the complicated web of inter-office memos regarding how the Guild should respond to the Blacklist in the late-1940s and early-1950s. We also acquire writers’ collections which can contain development materials for specific shows and films and ephemera like awards and typewriters. Our collections include Matthew Weiner’s scripts and outlines from his work on The Sopranos, Linda Woolverton’s early drafts and development materials for Beauty and the Beast, and the personal papers and scripts from Mel Tolkin, who wrote for such classics as Your Show of Shows and All in the Family.”
Processing archivist Francesca Krampe in the Writers Guild library, which is free and open to the public.
Script for the Playhouse 90 series premiere, "Forbidden Area." From the collection of producer Martin Manulis.
Martin Manulis Collection
“We have the Martin Manulis collection, which might seem odd because he was a television producer and not a writer, but it's a very special collection for us. It's the majority of scripts that he produced in his first two years as a producer for Playhouse 90. Those early live anthology shows are almost impossible to imagine today. Manulis said at any given time he would be overseeing three different Playhouse 90 productions all at different stages of rehearsal and production. I think he was the perfect person to be producing in those hectic, early years of the medium. He had a good sense of story, and since his background was in directing for the theater, he knew how to manage a complicated live production. Playhouse 90 is considered the best of those early anthology series, and I think a lot of that has to do with the quality of the writing. Manulis had a good eye for talent and appreciated writers as varied as Rod Serling, Hagar Wilde, and Leslie Stevens and directors like Arthur Penn, John Frankenheimer and Sidney Lumet.”
Script for the Playhouse 90 series premiere, "Forbidden Area."
Deodorant commercial for Playhouse 90.
Early Television
“While some critics lambasted television for being inane and low-brow, live anthology dramas were generally regarded as a testament to the possibilities of storytelling on television. Programs such as Playhouse 90, Studio One, and Matinee Theater, among many others, brought challenging, socially prescient content in half-hour or one hour stories. Initially, anthology series were conceived as a way to do shortened, live adaptations of popular Hollywood movies. However, when the rights to Hollywood films could not be obtained, the opposite occurred: the fresh talent hired for television crafted original stories that elevated television to an art form, leading Hollywood to ask the writers to adapt their own television work to film. Paddy Chayefsky won an Academy Award for adapting his own teleplay for Marty. Reginald Rose won an Emmy for his teleplay of 12 Angry Men and an Academy Award nomination when he adapted it for the screen. Rod Serling also adapted his own Emmy award winning script for Requiem for a Heavyweight to film. The groundbreaking writing done on live anthology dramas paved the way for such challenging programs as Naked City and The Twilight Zone.”
Learn more about the Writers Guild Foundation.
From Television City in Hollywood... Playhouse 90 screens October 1, 2 and 16 at the Billy Wilder Theater with Matthew Weiner and Robert Butler in person.
—Jennifer Rhee, Digital Content Manager
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