The film career of Allen Rivkin follows two paths. As a screenwriter Rivkin worked on over sixty scripts and collaborated with most of Hollywood's leading producers, directors, and stars. But equally important, he has been closely associated for over forty years with the Screen Writers Guild, where he helped formulate the policies that govern the working world of the screenwriter. Rivkin's involvement with the Guild has given him a unique vantage point, as participant and as observer, on the changing status of the Hollywood screenwriter. To celebrate Rivkin's seventy-fifth birthday in 1978, the Guild's board of directors gave him a large party; it was the first time an individual has been so honored. As a former president of the Guild and winner of its Valentine Davies Award in 1963, he has been serving as its director of public relations and special projects since 1963.

Allen Rivkin was born in Hayward, Wisconsin...