When Julian Fellowes signed on to write the “Gosford Park” script that later won him an Academy Award, it was actually his second Hollywood breakthrough, his first one coming as an actor some 20 years earlier. He built on his acting success in the U.S. and his native Britain to become a successful producer, director and novelist and also wrote the book for the Broadway musical adaptation of “Mary Poppins.”
Hollywood Breakthrough
Jon Lovitz is a familiar presence on TV and in films such as “A League of Their Own,” “Rat Race” and the upcoming “Casino Jack” starring Kevin Spacey. His greatest acclaim came as a mid-’80s cast member of “Saturday Night Live,” where his characters Master Thespian and the Liar Tommy Flanagan made him a star -- the biggest star in the galaxy (yeah, that’s the ticket).
KEYWORDS Jon Lovitz
This is a typical story about a small-town girl who wants nothing more than to take off her clothes in front of strangers and relate it in a raunchy Internet blog, but ends up getting discovered and asked to write a screenplay, which becomes the hit movie “Juno” and wins her an Academy Award. OK, maybe it’s not so typical, but for Diablo Cody, whose new film, “Jennifer’s Body,” opens this weekend, it’s all kind of mind-numbingly real.
Melissa Rosenberg has been on a seven-day-a-week work schedule for two years now, a time crunch about which she has no complaints. The executive producer of “Dexter,” whose fourth Showtime season premieres Sunday, is also writing the third “Twilight” movie, after finishing her script for the second film, “New Moon,” in time for its Nov. 20 release. Her screenplay for the original “Twilight” helped turn the then-obscure series of novels into a runaway smash hit for Summit Entertainment.
Elayne Boosler crashed comedy's boys' club in 1986 when her first Showtime special, "Party of One," opened the door for women comics to headline their own cable shows and earn club fees equal to the guys. Boosler still works regularly, doing mainly corporate gigs, while running her non-profit animal rescue, Tails of Joy, and polishing a book about the New York and Los Angeles club scene when she was coming up.
