novel: short chapter cht

Today's writers don't have the specter of a blacklist hanging over their heads. But having heard enough bad movies described as "the film that paid for my house," I know they grapple with many of the same economic dilemmas Trumbo did. As he once wrote, it isn't Hollywood that corrupts writers. "All Hollywood does is give them enough money so they can get married and have kids like normal people. It's the getting married and having kids that really corrupts them."


Conventional wisdom holds that the WGA is badly out-gunned by its powerful studio adversaries, who have derided recent WGA contract proposals. Guild negotiators responded by saying "the conglomerates always try to paint us as unreasonable and bellicose." People said the same thing about Trumbo, who explained: "God knows, I never wanted a fight in my life, but sometimes I think they're forced upon a peaceful man."