- Ronald Bass
:"This article is about the screenwriter. For the professional wrestler see
Ronald Herd .Infobox Actor
name = Ronald Bass
birthdate = birth date and age|1942|3|26
birthplace =Los Angeles, California
academyawards = Best Original Screenplay
1988 " [{Rain Man] "Ronald Jay Bass (born
March 26 ,1942 ), sometimes credited as Ron Bass, is an Americanscreenwriter . Also afilm producer , Bass's work is characterized as being highly in demand, and he is thought to be among the most highly paid writers inHollywood . He is often called the "King of the Pitches". In 1988, he received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for "Rain Man ", andfilm s that Bass is associated with are regularly nominated for multiple motion picture awards.Biography
Bass was born in
Los Angeles, California . One frequently reported "milestone" of his early life is the assertion that he "taught himself to read by age three".From the age of 3 to 11, Bass was afflicted with an undiagnosed condition that kept him bedridden. His symptoms included respiratory problems and stomach pains with high
fever s andnausea . It was during this illness, at age six, that Bass is said to have startedwriting .During his teens, Bass began work on a
novel , which he entitled "Voleur". He completed this work at age 17 and showed it to his English teacher. He took her critique of his first completed project quite hard. She described the writing as very good, but she felt that it was too personal to be published. Bass's response was to later burn hismanuscript . Later in life, Bass recalled "it was like the voice of God telling me I didn't have what it takes to be a writer, and I should find something practical to do with my life". Bass would revisit his teenage writings later in life.Bass entered
law studies, first atStanford , thenYale , and finally atHarvard Law School , where he graduated in 1967 with a degree in law. He seemed quite confident about his future prospects, saying, "When I learned there was such a thing as entertainment law, I thought, 'This is where I belong'". Back in Los Angeles, Bass began a seventeen year career practicing law in the entertainment business. He was successful, and eventually rose to the level of partner in hislaw firm .Bass has worked with his sister Diane Bass, who served as an uncredited
technical consultant on the film "Rain Man ".As he moved up the career ladder in law, the love of writing that Bass had acquired as a child never left him. He started writing again, usually during the predawn hours before going to work. Writing and working at unusual hours became a lifelong habit of his. In 1974, he began to rework his novel "Voleur", apparently from memory, as he had--in a fit of pique--burned the manuscript when he was 17. In 1978, he completed the work, renaming it "
The Perfect Thief " (ISBN 0-515-04622-1). This was the first of his three published novels. In 1982, Bass published his second novel, ' (ISBN 0-688-01025-3). The "Lime" referred to in the title isHarry Lime , the central mystery character of the 1949 motion picture "The Third Man ". OnJanuary 1 ,1984 , his third novel was published, "The Emerald Illusion " (ISBN 0-688-02622-2). The following year, he wrote the screenplay ', based on this novel. It was his debut as a screenwriter with a produced script.As a screenwriter, Bass is known for successfully working in collaboration with other writers, including
Amy Tan on "The Joy Luck Club " andAl Franken on "When a Man Loves a Woman".Detractors of Bass's works describe his stories as overly sentimental. A director working on a Bass-written movie said, "Every character is a little too nice, and everything has to be tied up in a sweet little bundle".
“The Ronettes”
A small controversy has arisen over Bass' use of assistants to help him write screenplays. While it is common for screenwriters to employ assistants to help them with research and typing, Bass employs six or seven mostly female assistants that one journalist dubbed “The Ronettes”. According to Bass, his assistants help him in research and also in critiquing his scripts. They enable him to write, revise or polish a comparatively large number of screenplays per year [http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/146/] .
Works
Novels
* "The Perfect Thief", 1978, ISBN 0-515-04622-1
* "Lime's crisis: A novel", 1982, ISBN 0-688-01025-3
* "The Emerald Illusion",January 1 ,1984 , ISBN 0-688-02622-2Films
Please see the
WGA screenwriting credit system for an explanation of the terms "story by", "screenplay by", and "written by". Also note that under the rules of theWriters Guild of America , Bass has not received onscreen credit for every script he has contributed to. It is thought that Bass has helped to write or consulted on over 100 screenplays (not all of which have necessarily been produced).External links
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0060103/ Bass's entry at the Internet Movie Database]
* [http://www.screenwritersutopia.com/modules.php?name=ScribeContent&pa=showpage&pid=2734 Bass's entry at the Screenwriter's Utopia]
* [http://www.law.harvard.edu/alumni/bulletin/backissues/spring98/article212.html A Harvard Alumni article on Bass]
* [http://www.lukeford.net/profiles/profiles/ron_bass.htm Commentary on Bass from Lukeford.net]
* [http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/detail/celeb/195451 Hollywood.com, lists "milestones" in Bass's life]
* [http://www.howstella.com/bbq/ron_b.html Bio page from the official website of How Stella Got Her Groove Back]
* [http://talentdevelop.com/screenwriting.html A brief excerpt from Reuters/Variety occurs toward the end of this page from Talent Develop.com]
* [http://www.moviemaker.com/issues/33/writerbrigade.html A MovieMaker.com article featuring a sidebar bio on Bass]
* [http://www.screenmancer.tv/atlarge/bass.htm A bio from Screenmancer.tv]
* [http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/146/ An interview with Sight & Sound]
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