Union Touts Great Writing

Most people would recognize the line "You can't handle the truth!" as spoken by Jack Nicholson in 1992's "A Few Good Men." But who wrote it?

Then there's the two-word phrase, "As if," from 1995's "Clueless," a line that popularized the "Valley Girl" dialect.

And how about the line, "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown," from the 1974 Roman Polanski film, "Chinatown?"

The answers: Nicholson's wrath was penned by Aaron Sorkin; "As if," was the work of Amy Heckerling; and Robert Towne wrote "Chinatown."

A new billboard and advertising campaign to mark the 70th anniversary of the Writers Guild of America seeks to showcase the profession by matching famous movie and TV lines with photos of their authors. The effort is aimed at raising the WGA's profile before it negotiates a new contract with producers.

The "Where it Begins" campaign was the idea of Oscar-winner Marc Norman, who wrote and produced the 1998 film "Shakespeare in Love."

"It came down to the idea that writers have written lines in films and television shows that are so memorable, they have become phrases people use in daily conversation," Norman said. "What writers do is not just provide entertainment, but they change the culture."

The campaign is not aimed at the general public, but rather at studio and television executives and comes as the guild begins to plan strategy for negotiations on a contract that expires in May. The WGA has yet to release a contract wish list, but is expected to press for better pay and more recognition for its members, particularly those who write for reality TV shows.

Several black-and-white billboards have been placed in key locations in Los Angeles where top executives, directors, agents and actors are likely to see them. The billboards contain the famous lines and a photo of the writer, but not the writer's name or even the name of the film. Ads are also being taken out in trade publications in Los Angeles and New York.

"We wanted to say, 'These are random members, look what they have done,'" Norman said. "We didn't want to take away from the centrality of the Writers Guild logo."

"Many times I've read books of quotations or seen articles where great movie quotes are attributed to the actor, not the person who wrote it," said Heckerling on the union's Web site. "This campaign takes the writer, and makes them more visible. I like that."

Writers have historically complained about not getting the respect they deserve in Hollywood. During contract negotiations in 2001, writers said it was unfair that film directors get credit for movies, while writers are often not allowed on sets and, in some cases, not invited to premieres.

"I think everybody thinks the directors have all the visual concepts and the actors make up all the lines," said Oscar-wining writer William Goldman, whose lines from 1969's "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," grace one of the billboards.

In fact, the money for the current effort comes from a fund established by the Guild and the studios after the 1995 negotiations to provide for a campaign for better appreciation of writers.

Both the WGA and the studios had to agree on the current campaign for the fund to be tapped. The guild hopes to introduce new billboards and ads over the next six months.

"I think anything that makes anybody talk about us is a plus, because they don't," Goldman said.