Steven Gaydos

Steven Gaydos is an American screenwriter, songwriter and journalist.

Works

Steven Gaydos is an award-winning screenwriter best known for writing legendary American independent film director Monte Hellman’s 2010 Venice Film Festival Golden Lion prize-winner Road to Nowhere (film),[1] which also was noted in the Sight & Sound and Film Comment "Best Films of 2010" lists, as well as over 100 other 'Best Films of 2010' lists.[2] Released internationally and featured in nearly two-dozen other prestigious film festivals, Road to Nowhere (film) was lauded by critics in such publications as The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, and also garnered strong notices around the world.[3] Noted French philosopher Jacques Rancière updated his key work "Les Ecarts Du Cinema", in which he notes the way that Road to Nowhere (film) creatively advances the themes of Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller Vertigo.[4]

Gaydos has co-authored several other screenplays, including the 1988 Venice Film Festival prize-winner Iguana and Silent Night Deadly Night III: Better Watch Out!, both directed by Monte Hellman. He frequently collaborates with Hellman, who has been honored with several published studies of his work, including the 2010 publication "Sympathy for the Devil: The Films of Monte Hellman", as well as studies authored by film scholars Charles Tatum and Brad Stevens (film critic/novelist). In both works Gaydos is widely quoted and his contributions to Hellman's oeuvre discussed. Gaydos' association with Hellman dates back to his work as a production associate on the acclaimed 1974 action-drama Cockfighter and also includes several unproduced projects such as an adaptation of Jorge Semprun's historical novel "The Second Death of Ramon Mercader" and Charles McCarry's spy thriller novel The Miernik Dossier.[1]

As a screenwriter, Gaydos also developed and co-authored Dutch filmmaker Ate de Jong's adaptation of Simone De Beauvoir's novel All Men Are Mortal, and contributed to the screenplay for Dutch director Nouchka van Brakel’s, One Month Later.[5]

In addition to his produced screenplays, Gaydos coauthored several screenplays with Edgar Award-winning television writer-showrunner Rene Balcer, best known for his key role in the success of the Law & Order television franchise. Gaydos's work with Balcer includes the unproduced screenplays Paradise Gates and The Bridge.[6]

His unproduced solo works include current projects Bring Me the Head of Sam Peckinpah and The Man Who Was Not With It, based upon the novel by Herbert Gold.[1] In 2008, Gaydos received a special award for his contributions to film culture from the prestigious Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.[7]

Gaydos’ music projects include several recorded works including "More Than I Care To Remember" by Carl Hickman and "Chicken of the County," a popular parody record by Rod Hart based upon the Kenny Rogers' hit "Coward of the County".

Gaydos’ song “Mystery Dawn”[8] (co-authored with Mitch Moon and from the 2014 record “Rain in the Drought” by Sun and Moon) is featured in the 2014 Ate de Jong film Deadly Virtues: Love.Honour.Obey..

Gaydos is a widely read entertainment journalist and the co-author of several books on the entertainment industry, including “Movie Talk From The Front Lines” (McFarland) and “Cannes: 50 Years of Sun, Sex and Celluloid” (Miramax).[9] He has been a widely seen expert on the entertainment industry, appearing regularly on American television and radio, international outlets such as the United Kingdom's BBC, and in publications around the world.[5] Gaydos is currently Vice-President, Executive Editor of Variety (magazine).[10]

Screenplays

• One Month Later (co-writer) 1987

• Iguana 1988 (co-writer)

• Silent Night Deadly Night III: Better Watch Out! 1989 (co-writer)

• All Men Are Mortal 1995 (co-writer)

• Road to Nowhere 2010 (screenwriter-producer)

Books

• Movie Talk From The Frontlines (McFarland) 1995 ISBN 0786400056

• Variety Guide To Film Festivals (Perigee) 1997 ISBN 0399524428

• Cannes: 50 Years of Sun, Sex & Celluloid (Miramax) 1997 ISBN 0786882956

Music

• "Rain in the Drought" (co-writer with Mitch Moon)

• "More Than I Care To Remember" (co-writer with Terrence Dwyer)

• "Chicken of the County" (co-writer with Terrence Dwyer)

• "Mystery Dawn" (from the film, Deadly Virtues: Love. Honour. Obey, co-writer with Mitch Moon)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Ten Questions with ROAD TO NOWHERE Screenwriter STEVEN GAYDOS". Screenwritersutopia.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  2. ↑ "Road to Nowhere". Roadtonowherethemovie.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "Road to Nowhere review". Filmcomment.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  4. ↑ "Jacques Rancière : " Vertigo " et " Road to Nowhere "". Canalblog.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "2011 ASCAP EXPO". Ascap.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  6. ↑ "LiC Interview: Screenwriter/Producer Steven Gaydos talks about Monte Hellman and "Road to Nowhere" – Living in Cinema". Living in Cinema. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  7. ↑ "Steven Gaydos". PMC.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  8. ↑ "Mystery Dawn". YouTube.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  9. ↑ Steven Gaydos. "QUO VADIS EUROPEAN CINEMA?" (PDF). Cinema.usc.edu. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  10. ↑ "Variety Ups Steven Gaydos to VP and Executive Editor". Variety.com. Retrieved 15 February 2015.

External links