In FADE IN, the writers behind some of the most memorable stories on film and television reveal what really happens between inspiration and what you see on screen. They talk candidly about battling studios, rewriting other people’s work, adapting beloved books, protecting characters, sharing credit, losing control—and ultimately seeing what they imagined come brilliantly or horribly to life.
The lineup includes Ray Bradbury, Stephen J. Cannell, Michael Crichton, Bob Gale, Dan O’Bannon, Gene Roddenberry, Robert Zemeckis, and the writers behind the James Bond movies, RoboCop, Fletch, Back to the Future, Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, and many more.
Lee Goldberg conducted these interviews as a young entertainment journalist, years before becoming a #1 New York Times bestselling author and a television writer-producer on shows like SeaQuest, Diagnosis Murder and Monk. These conversations were more than assignments. They showed him the ingenuity, frustration, compromise, and sheer persistence that’s required to turn words on a page into something millions of people will watch.
Sharp, funny, revealing, and often brutally honest, FADE IN captures screenwriters talking about their craft while the work, and the battles behind it, were still fresh.