SOURCE: "Hot Writer," in Newsweek, Vol. LXXXIV, No. 16, October 14, 1974, pp. 114-114B.

In the following, Kasindorf discusses Towne's approach to screenwriting and his experiences working on Chinatown.

The Hollywood star system is back stronger than ever. Once again it's an age of the hot performer, the hot director—and now the hot screenwriter. Where for years studios were reluctant to take chances on original screen-plays, preferring adaptations of "sure-fire" hit plays and books, now the bidding for original scripts is fierce. The success of originals like David S. Ward's Oscar-winning The Sting, William Goldman's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Carole Eastman's Five Easy Pieces has put a big premium on originals. Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, the husband-wife team who created American Graffiti, were paid $400,000 for their new story of rum-running in the '20s, Lucky Lady, which will star Liza Minnelli. All this has given...