Written by Cast Member: Difference between revisions

Sometimes actors want to have a say in the words they're given; sometimes they want to stretch their artistic muscles; sometimes they look at the scripts they have to do and think, "I could do better than this!" When this happens, and the producers are on their side ([[Executive Meddling|or they've been told to be on the actors' side]]), you have something written by a cast member.

 

 

 

* [[Sylvester Stallone]] has written or co-written a lot of his movies, even the ones that he didn't pen from scratch (like ''[[Cliff Hanger]]'' and ''[[The Expendables]]'').

* Italian movie star David Warbeck (that was his real name; he was from New Zealand) wrote some of his movies like ''Treasure Of The Golden Cobra'', although not with credit.

* Simon Pegg co-wrote and starred in ''[[Shaun of the Dead]]'' and ''[[Hot Fuzz]]''.

* [[Eddie Murphy]] wrote the screenplay for ''[[Harlem Nights]]'', as well as directing it.

* [[Steve Martin]] wrote the screenplay for ''[[Bowfinger]]'' (and in fact he wrote or co-wrote many of his films).

== Live-Action TV ==

* ''[[Small Wonder]]'' had a few episodes written, at least in part, by Dick Christie.

* Robert Culp loved doing this on his series - ''Trackdown'', ''[[I Spy]]'' and ''[[The Greatest American Hero]]'' all had episodes he wrote (AND directed).

* John Schneider co-wrote and directed "Opening Night At The Boar's Nest," the [[Series Finale]] of ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]''.

* Both Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher wrote episodes of ''[[Lois and Clark|Lois And Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman]]''.

* Jack Klugman, who made no secret of his views on the standard of writing in TV, wrote or co-wrote four episodes of ''[[Quincy]]'' in addition to [[Creative Differences|having showrunner Glen A. Larson thrown off the show]] and eventually getting writers more to his liking. [[Nepotism|Including his own brother and sister]].

* [[Steven Seagal]]'s TV series ''True Justice'' ("Created by Steven Seagal") featured scripts co-written by the great man himself.

* Roger Smith wrote several episodes of ''77 Sunset Strip''.

* Done quite a bit on ''[[The X-Files]]'', especially in later seasons. David Duchovny wrote (and directed) two episodes: "The Unnatural" and "Hollywood AD", while co-developing storylines for seven others. Gillian Anderson wrote (and directed) season seven's "all things." William B. Davis (who plays CGB Spender) wrote "En Ami."

* Two episodes of ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'' were written by [[David Henrie]].

* Steve Smith, who portrayed the title character of ''[[The Red Green Show]]'', also co-wrote every episode. He often worked with Rick Green (who played Bill), and in later seasons, Peter Wildman (Buzz Sherwood) and Bob Bainborough (Dalton) contributed as well.

* Both Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman have written episodes of ''[[Parks and Recreation]]''.

* Michael Imperioli wrote several episodes of ''[[The Sopranos]]''.

 

== Radio ==

* In 1955 ''[[The Archers]]'' had an episode where Grace Archer, the wife of Phil, was killed off. (It may or may not have been coincidence that the episode went out on BBC radio the very night [[ITV|commercial television]] began.) The script had Grace's fate be conveyed in the final line of dialogue thusly: "She... she died in my arms... on the way to hospital." However, Norman Painting (who played Phil) suggested the line go "In my arms... on the way to hospital... she's dead!" Suffice to say that not only was this one of the most talked-about episodes of the soap, but Painting went on to write many, many episodes as well as act in them.

* ''Radio Active'' had a [[Cast Full of Writers]] (so full, in fact, that Helen Atkinson Wood was the only one who didn't chip in on that front).

 

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[[Category:Trivia Trope]]

[[Category:Credits Tropes]]