Confessions of a Hollywood screenwriter

June 25, 11:36 AMAustin Film Industry ExaminerJake Powell

The old Hollywood axiom is "nobody knows anything," and it's probably the most common theme you get when you hear a filmmaker - and especially screenwriter - talk about "the business." Michael B. Druxman was no exception to the rule last night at the Austin film mixer as he chatted about his life and career, the things he did to get in, and the life he's had as a Hollywood screenwriter. He opened with a story about himself as a young, naive, and impressionable aspiring writer - a persona he seems thrilled to delight and cringe at - at an event where Jack Lemmon was giving a talk. He raised his hand, and asked the standard question, "how do you break into the movie business?" Jack Lemmon's answer: "Don't."

It is shear tenacity, Druxman asserts, a bull-headed and failure-blind drive into the unknowable territory that is the movie business, that gets you in. Well, that, and a great deal of luck. But even luck, he says, is all about being prepared when the opportunity happens to come by. Druxman is a man who has just the sort of drive he talks about; he spent ten years writing before he sold his first script, which was eventually produced as "Keeton's Cop" in 1988, starring Lee Majors, "whose greatest talent," Druxman quips, "is the right side of his face."

 "Don't see it," advises Druxman.

Druxman has a rather dry sense of humor about much of his work, and he spoke for awhile about writing on assignment, which he asserts is the only way to actually make a living as a movie writer. One such example was "Raptor," which producer Roger Corman asked him to write based off of discarded dinosaur footage from three of his previous films. "Don't see that one either," he says with a chuckle.

While it seemed that Druxman actually delights in some of the more cringe-worthy work he's done, he certainly has plenty to be proud of as well, including his 1994 television movie "Cheyenne Warrior," an action-western love story. He is also particularly proud of the horror movie he both wrote and directed in 2000, "The Doorway," which starred Roy Scheider.

Druxman moved to Austin about two months ago with his wife. He's currently working on adapting a one-person stage play for the screen, as well as writing his memoirs. "I'm hesitant to finish the memoirs," he says. His story isn't over yet.