Script girls

The Hollywood screenwriter is mythologized as a hard-drinking, chainsmoking guy, toiling over his battered typewriter. This obscures the fact that women have been writing for movies since the earliest days of the industry. It is one of the few areas where they have consistently found employment. Tracing the history of women in the screenwriting profession--from Gene Gauntier's 1911 version of Ben Hur to Callie Khouri's Thelma and Louise--Francke looks at the lives and fortunes of the women who put pen to screen. Complete with extensive interviews with women working today--including Nora…