Scripting Hitchcock: Psycho, The Birds, and Marnie

by Walter Raubicheck, Walter Srebnick

Scripting Hitchcock explores the collaborative process between Alfred Hitchcock and the screenwriters he hired to write the scripts for three of his greatest Psycho, The Birds, and Marnie. Drawing from extensive interviews with the screenwriters and other film technicians who worked for Hitchcock, Walter Raubicheck and Walter Srebnick illustrate how much of the filmmaking process took place not on the set or in front of the camera, but in the adaptation of the sources, the mutual creation of plot and characters by the director and the writers, and the various revisions of the written texts of the films. Hitchcock allowed his writers a great deal of creative freedom, which resulted in dynamic screenplays that expanded traditional narrative and defied earlier conventions. Critically examining the question of authorship in film, Raubicheck and Srebnick argue that Hitchcock did establish visual and narrative priorities for his writers, but his role in the writing process was that of an editor. While the writers and their contributions have generally been underappreciated, this study reveals that all the dialogue and much of the narrative structure of the films were the work of screenwriters Jay Presson Allen, Joseph Stefano, and Evan Hunter. The writers also shaped American cultural themes into material specifically for actors such as Janet Leigh, Tippi Hedren, and Tony Perkins. This volume gives due credit to those writers who gave narrative form to Hitchcock's filmic vision.

131 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2011

Reviews

[Rebecca Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely fascinating, incredibly detailed look at the way Hitchcock worked with screenwriters. The authors link their research to the issue of Hitchcock as auteur--How much of the final script was he responsible for and how much can be attributed to the screenwriters with whom he worked. The answer--that he was able to influence every word that finally came from the screen--is a very significant contribution to the argument about directors as auteurs. The theory gets less respect now than in previous decades, but in the case of Hitchcock it's all true. The authors were fortunate to work with all three writers because two of them died recently and this is their last word on the subject of their experiences working with Hitchcock. Hats off to the Walters! (Srebnick and Raubicheck). Recommended for anyone interested in Hitchcock or in the often fraught give-and-take between directors and writers.