Bill Broyles: I'm very glad to be here, and I look forward to everyone's questions!

Bill Broyles: I was very partial to Thade, who was the villain. It's always more fun to write villains!

Bill Broyles: Well, it was an interesting problem because the public did know the crew made it back safely, so the challenge was to create characters in the movie - that is the family and the mission controllers who did NOT know - so the audience could identify with their fears for the crew. As for me, I've been far away from home before, when I was in Vietnam, and that sense of loneliness is what I drew on to try to create the feeling of the men in the space capsule.

Bill Broyles: The character Wilson is my favorite character I've ever done. He's actually a volleyball. I did research in Mexico on the Sea of Cortez for the movie "Cast Away" and after I had learned to make fire (and believe me, it's harder even than it looks in the movie!), after I had caught fish and made shelter I realized that physical survival wasn't the deepest challenge; it was emotional survival. The loneliness was the key element. The next morning I got up and went down to the beach and a volleyball had washed up on the shore. I put some seaweed and sea shells on it, and started calling it by its name, which was of course Wilson. And that made it directly into the movie.

Bill Broyles: Of course I talk to myself all the time - I'm the only one who will listen to me sometimes! For Tom Hanks I wrote what Wilson would be saying, so that Tom could respond, even though the audience never heard Wilson say a word. To me this is the crux of the movie, which is that we as human beings are social creatures. We have to connect, even if it is to a volleyball.

Bill Broyles: I think historic topics can be very moving, because the audience can identify with real characters. It makes the research interesting also, because I get to talk to astronauts and mission controllers - the people who worked on the project. It was talking to one of those mission controllers, who said "Failure is not an option" and I asked "Could you say that again please, so I can write it down?" and that line made it directly into the movie.

Bill Broyles: I was the editor of "Texas Monthly" and I got the job because I started the magazine. No one would have hired me otherwise. I loved writing, and I loved reading, and I loved Texas. And there was no job for me, so I had to make one.

Bill Broyles: "Cast Away" took seven years. Longer than Chuck was on his island. "Apollo 13" took two years. "Planet of the Apes" less than a year. It varies from movie to movie; there's no set formula. How long it takes depends on a lot of things. When the stars and directors are available. When the script fits their idea of the movie they want to make. When I feel I'm finished. And when the studio is ready to pay the money to make the movie. My basic rule as a writer is: Don't be too easily satisfied. Every writer wants to be finished writing. Every draft I write I think "this is wonderful, it's done, I don't need to change a word." And then I sit down and rewrite it. I did over 100 drafts of "Cast Away."

Bill Broyles: Let me think...I first wrote for the Rice Thresher, the student university at Rice University in Houston when I was 19. I wrote for the university paper at Oxford where I graduated, and I wrote for the now-defunct Houston Post, between Rice and Oxford.

Bill Broyles: Every year I participate in the Austin Film Festival, which is a festival unique in the movie business in that it is centered around screenwriters. It happens every year in Austin in October, and I would recommend anyone interested in screenwriting to check it out. I personally from time to time mentor other screenwriters, mainly people in my own family, and people I know.

Bill Broyles: There are so many ways to get a screenplay made, and so many, many more ways for it not to get made. Entering contests can be a good idea. Finding other people who will read it and pass it on is a good idea. Entering festivals is a very good way to start. You want to get people to read it; that is the challenge.

Bill Broyles: Actually, I have not, although for years my assistant, Sheila Gallien, was my first reader, which means she read every word I wrote and offered constructive criticism. She now has her own script consulting business, which I will plug here, and she is excellent. Her internet address is sgallien@earthlink.net, or you can learn more at www.sheilagallien.com .

Bill Broyles: I think you shouldn't give up very easily, but you have to remember screenwriters are very private people. Their work is very solitary, and we tend to be solitary as well. I have used several interns, but it only works when I have a great deal of research to do, which I don't right now. I think the best thing is to just read a lot of books, go to a lot of movies, and try to find people who will read your scripts from your own peer group. The best support group for me is a group of people who write, and we all read each other's work. Again I recommend the Austin Film Festival as a great place to hear and meet a concentrated group of screenwriters.

Bill Broyles: Excellent question! A novel has no set form. A screenplay is more like a sonnet, which is three quatrains followed by a couplet. In other words, it has a set structure. Novels can be 500 words or 1000 words, but every screenplay has to be 120 pages. It has to have a beginning, a middle and an end, and it works best if it follows the tried-and-true 3-act structure. In this regard it is more a craft than an art. I means the art has to fit within a form.

Bill Broyles: It takes a varying amount of time, and you never finish. There's an old saying that a movie is written three times - once by the writer, once by the director when he shoots, and once by the editor when he edits it. On "Cast Away" I wrote the last scene a week before its premiere.

Bill Broyles: I hope that it would mean the kind of mindless violence that treated death and destruction as screen devices for entertainment...I would hope that filmmakers would think twice before they did that again. The most common comment I heard after September 11 was "It looked just like a movie." As a screenwriter I was deeply embarrassed by that. I think we are all affected personally by knowing how small the world is, and what an unsafe place it can be. I think we should make movies that encourage us to reach out to each other, and not to run and hide.

Bill Broyles: That's a great question! The three movies I would take would be "Lawrence of Arabia" because it's simply the best movie ever made. I would take "Tootsie" because it makes me laugh, and I would need some laughs. And I would take "Raiders of the Lost Ark" because it's the best escape movie, and I would want to escape. I wouldn't take "Cast Away" because it's a little too close to home. As for books, my three favorite books are "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemmingway, "Madame Bovary" and "Huckleberry Finn." I read them every every couple of years or so, and am never bored. They are like old friends.

Bill Broyles: That's another very good question. I have not written a lot of violence, "Planet of the Apes" being the exception, but that violence is within the conventions of science fiction. Having been in a real war, and shot real bullets at real people, and had them shoot back at me, I do not take violence lightly. It's not a cartoon or for titillation or entertainment. On the other hand, it is and has been a part of human life. I think if and when it is used, it should above all be shown to have consequences. It hurts. People suffer. People feel deep guilt. It's not something I think should be dealt with lightly. I'm working on a World War II movie now, called "Flags of Our Fathers" with Steven Spielberg, who made "Saving Private Ryan," probably the best visual portrayal of war violence ever done. We're trying to show in this new movie how being part of that kind of violence affects the survivors forever.

Bill Broyles: I have several tips! First is: read. I have met many writers who don't want to read. If you don't read, you can't write. Read the masters; they will show you the way. I learned more about screenwriting from reading "Madame Bovary" than from watching 100 movies
Bill Broyles: Second is: learn something about the world. Don't study writing, study English or science or math or medicine, or psychology or business or law. I could go on and on. Something that gives you a way of looking at the world and understanding how it works.
Bill Broyles: Three: Write what you know. By that I don't mean just your own life, but I mean if you're going to write "Cast Away" go sit on a beach by yourself, and learn what it's like. That's always better than trying to make it up.
Bill Broyles: And the fourth is: Try to get a peer group of writers and friends who write, and share your work with each other. The hardest thing about writing is to look at your own work objectively, without being in love with it.

Bill Broyles: There are no hard and fast rules. I would recommend going to the Writers Guild website (I believe it's wga.com). They have a list of TV shows that will accept unsolicited manuscripts. I started writing for "China Beach" which I helped create. I learned more about screenwriting in a practical sense writing for television. There are also magazines about writing that offer suggestions about how to submit scripts and manuscripts.
Bill Broyles: The hardest thing is to make the connection. I don't pretend to be able to offer good advice on it. The only way I got to write was to be able to come up with my own TV show. It was just like Texas Monthly. Nobody would look at my writing, so I had to start something, and give myself a job.

Bill Broyles: Oh! Another good question! A good director has to be able to give two years of his or her life to a movie. To be able to answer every conceivable question about every conceivable thing, from the script to the wardrobe, to the color of the car, at a moment's notice. They have to be both inspiring and decisive. They don't necessarily have to know every technical thing; they just have to be devoted to making every shot as good as it can possibly be. The one quality many directors lack is a sense of storytelling. The best directors use all of their technical ability to tell stories.
Bill Broyles: A producer has to have a sense of humility, because a producer gets all of the blame, and none of the credit. But no producer, no movie. They're the ones that bring everybody together. In television this is all different. In television the writers tell the directors what to do. As a writer, this makes TV very enjoyable! Every writer wants to tell the director "Just shoot what's on the page, and get on with it." In TV you can do that. The best projects come about when the writer, director, producer and cast all have the same vision. So someone in that group has to be dedicated to making that happen.

Bill Broyles: I don't know what all the rules are. I do know what integrity is, and most script agents I have dealt with have a lot of it, because their reputation rests on it. Most of my work is done by oral agreement. The contracts take weeks to catch up, and usually I'm well into working on something before I actually sign something. I do not recommend this - I think it's very important to have everything signed and worked out before the work is done. And to make sure the check clears the bank! Some people have an attorney look over their film contracts, and that's not a bad idea. On the whole, however, I've found people in the movie business, despite their reputation, to be more trustworthy than just about any other business I've been in.

Bill Broyles: "Brothers in Arms" was a book I wrote about my return to Vietnam 15 years after I fought there, to try to find the men and women I had fought against - the human beings behind those muzzle flashes winking at me in the night. It was extremely rewarding to meet them, and to see my enemies as human beings. The most powerful weapon in war is not a tank or a jet or a gun, it's the finger that pulls the trigger. We do that because we see our enemies as less than human, and they see us the same way. I wanted to see my old enemies as real people, and have them see me. That was very difficult because it stirred up a lot of memories, but it was extremely rewarding as well. The Vietnamese I fought against and I found we had more in common with each other than with almost anyone else we knew, so the trip was a way for me finally to put the war to rest.

Bill Broyles: Oh, it's much tougher to write about something personal, if that personal experience has been a painful one. It's fun to write about personal experiences that are enjoyable. "Planet of the Apes" was a hoot for me, because I could just let my imagination run free. As it happened, Tim Burton the director let his imagination run free too, and his imagination went in some different directions than mine had. We'll let the viewer decide if that was a good thing.

Bill Broyles: Newsweek! That's the deep, dark past! It's a very different world than Texas Monthly. It's sort of the difference between having a small platoon in war, and being the Secretary of Defense. You feel more distant from the work of the magazine. The people who work there are extremely talented, but the amount of space is very limited. So whenever there is a high ratio of talent to space, as in news magazines, TV news and so on, you get bitter office politics. However, I had some good times there, and enjoyed having so much access to whatever was going on in the world. We were the first major magazine to put AIDS on the cover, for example, back in 1982 I think. And it's fun to be part of the daily rush of events, but it's extremely hard work. 80-100 hours a week. You're really never off duty.

Bill Broyles: To the first part of the question, yes that's true. I had written a much more subtle and philosophical movie. Tim Burton was more interested in doing more of a stylish cartoon. A lot of people really liked it. I thought he did a good job with what he wanted to do. I was sad to see so much of the depth and wonder I had written get lost. The second part of the question...the joy of being a screenwriter is that when it goes well, you have millions of people sharing your work, as on "Cast Away" and "Apollo 13," and it is work you are really proud of. In other words, you have a chance to reach an audience with the most powerful medium ever invented. On the other hand, you have to collaborate with so many people that it's hard to see it as your work. With a novel it's all you. You don't have to take advice, good or bad (and sometimes the good advice is worse), and chances are you won't reach much of an audience. So it's a trade-off of control and size of audience for me. I enjoy both. I love the creative control of a novel, but it's a very lonely process. I love the collaboration of working in film when it's going well.

Bill Broyles: "Tom Harris"! You guys are really up on things! "Tom Harris" is a western script I've been working on for years now. Michael Mann was about to direct it, but he made "The Insider" instead. We have been in discussions to rewrite it again to work with some major movie stars, and I hope it gets made in the next couple of years. The research was different in that a lot of it had to be done from books, since I can't go back to be a 19th C. cowboy. I grew up on westerns, and part of what I do in movies is write what I want to see myself. I would LOVE to see a great western. I think the technical abilities of film now would make a western just awesome, and I hope to get a chance to see if that's true. A lot of the themes of a western are similar to "Cast Away" and "Apollo 13," which are: Who am I, where do I fit in, how do I get home, and a small individual set in the vastness of nature or space.

Bill Broyles: Remember when I said "be sure the check clears the bank"? With studios you know the check is going to clear. With independent production it's more like Texas Monthly. You have more freedom, and it can be a lot more fun. The more a movie costs, the more terrified are the people who are paying for it, and the more their panic can affect the quality of the film.

Bill Broyles: My favorite movie of all time is "Lawrence of Arabia." My favorite movie currently showing is "Unfaithful" which I co-wrote. I also like "The Rookie" which your previous guest Mike Rich wrote. My favorite movie of the last year was "Shrek."

Bill Broyles: Well, we've worked on 2 movies that have been filmed, and 2 more that are in the works. He is terrific to work with. He has no vanity (as you can tell from "Cast Away"). He is totally dedicated to making the best possible movie. He is a nice guy, but to call him just that is to diminish the complexity of his personality. He is very funny and competitive, and just a guy's guy. He's the kind of guy you would go bowling with, or go down a river with, or just hang out with. He's as normal a guy as any movie star could possibly be.

Bill Broyles: I thought he did a really good job. The older you get the less you enjoy seeing all of your past put in one place, but Gary did a terrific job. My mother liked the article, which means it had to be great!

Bill Broyles: Just that it's very hard. It's hard to do anything good, it's hard even to make a bad movie. A lot of times you don't know you're making something bad while you're doing it. I've always wanted to write novels, and I'm finding it difficult to do, but that's the fun of it.

Bill Broyles: Failure makes you stronger. Beware of success because it makes you cautious. Don't give up because, as Chuck says in "Cast Away," "Tomorrow the sun will rise, and who knows what the tide will bring."

Bill Broyles: I would have loved to have worked with John Ford or David Lean, but Howard Hawks would have been the most fun. He did every genre there was and directed some of my favorite movies; that would have been a kick. But today I love working with Robert Zemeckis and Ron Howard - there are a lot of great directors out there. And I left out Billy Wilder. He would have been fun too.

Bill Broyles: Thanks to everyone, and I really enjoyed it!