Scripting success

Accomplished writer shares his knowledge by teaching classes

John Hill stands next to a stack of scripts he penned for TV and the silver screen, with an Emmy Award sitting atop the pile.Marlene Karas/View Advertisement

When John Hill was about 8, he woke up to discover 6 inches of newly fallen snow covering his family's Kansas City backyard, which was about the size of a big movie screen. He promptly went outside and stomped his name in it, in huge, can't-miss-em letters.

Fast forward to his adult life, after he spent nearly 25 years as a writer for Hollywood -- TV and the silver screen -- and was featured in both Time and The New York Times magazines. He also has an Emmy sitting on his desk.

Hill teaches writing classes at UNLV through the Educational Outreach program -- an adult night school -- year-round.

His next screenwriting class is slated to begin on April 11. The six-week course is titled Screenwriting -- the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Students can expect to learn about plot, dialogue, pace and protagonists. The class also will cover marketing of screenplays and what makes one stand out above the rest.

"A lot of people don't understand how to write for a market," Hill said. "They get all distracted by the Oscars and reading reviews, which don't mean anything. They don't bother to read the Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety to spot trends, to see what's selling."

Even well-written screenplays that are bought are often handed off to other writers and molded to the director's and producer's wishes.

"By the time your work gets made into a movie, you won't even recognize it when it's finished," Hill said.

The whims of Hollywood, however, mean only a small percentage of purchased scripts ever make it to the silver screen.

Between 1989 and 1996, Hill sold three different speculative scripts for six figures, in three different genres, he said.

Jill Delaney, 31, a realtor, has taken Hill's class before. She said he keeps the sessions lively with his self-deprecating humor.

"He doesn't romanticize the screenwriting life," she said. "He tells you just what needs to be done to get it done."

Sheffield Obella, 38, an art teacher, said Hill "doesn't pull any punches. And he gives you examples of what he's talking about. When I learned he had an Emmy, I realized he knew what he was doing."

That 1991 Emmy came from his work as a writer-type producer on the TV series "L.A. Law." He held a similar position for "Quantum Leap."

His movie credits include the ABC made-for-TV movie "Griffin and Phoenix" (1976), based on his speculative script and starring Peter Falk and Jill Clayburgh.

The film was later released as a theatrical piece overseas. The movie was recently remade, this time starring Amanda Peet and Dylan McDermott. It aired on the Lifetime cable channel in November.

Other credits include "Heartbeeps" (1981), based on his pitch, starring Andy Kaufman and Bernadette Peters; and co-writer of "Little Nikita" (1988), starring River Phoenix and Sidney Poitier.

Perhaps Hill's best-known work is "Quigley Down Under" (1990), based on his speculative script and starring Tom Selleck, Laura San Giacomo and Alan Rickman.

"It's been playing on six different cable channels," he said. "The Western, Action, Encore, Love Story, Hallmark and Country channels."

Besides teaching and writing a column, he mentors those tackling speculative script projects.

Hill graduated from the University of Kansas in 1969 as a journalism major, and was yearbook editor and senior class president. He was a copywriter at several advertising agencies. Then, his first screenplay in hand, he jumped into his Camaro to move to Los Angeles on April Fools Day, 1971 -- the definitive day of the year to try to become a screenwriter, he noted.

Hill wrote two screenplays annually for the next 25 years.

Since moving to Las Vegas six years ago with his wife, Nancy, a public relations specialist, Hill continues to be a columnist for SCR(I)PT magazine, and has set his sights on a "new path of self destruction," writing fiction novels.

Hill can be reached by e-mail at Hillwithit@aol.com.