Thursday, April 29,1982
Daily Nebraskan
Page 13
Lincoln home for screenwriter
I By Chuck Jagoda
i Screenwriters are found
1 in Los Angeles or New
1 York. If they happen to be
j any place in between those
I two media meccas, it's be-
cause they arc on location
I or in a plane between
J meccas. One just doesn't ex
I pect to find real live mcmb
s crs of the Screenwriters'
j Guild living and working in
I Lincoln, Neb. Yet that's
j what Angela Rackley has
.been doing for the past two
f years.
"I had an eclectic up
bringing - the jungles of
Panama, Europe, all over
Ithe United States. My father
twas in the service."
V She left the College of
Journalism and Communi
cation at the University of
Florida in her senior year to
. pursue a career as a singer
and songwriter. She had re
leased several records and
worked with Dick Haller
who wrote Snoopy and The
Red Baron and Abraham,
, Martin and John. A career
in Los Angeles as a song
writer seemed like the next
step. What actually dev
eloped, however, was a job
as a record buyer for Warner
Bros. Records. That evolv
ed into production work in
films and eventually screen
writing. Rackley credits her
mentor Ben Barzman with
helping her to learn the
craft of writing for the
screen.
"He had been blacklist
ed from Hollywood and had
lived in France. He's written
' the screenplays for Z, The
Vist. The Damned, The Cid,
The Blue Max, and The Boy
With the Green Hair among
, , others. The line that became
, a poster 'War is not good for
children and other living
things' was one of his in The
Boy With Green Hair"
Rackley describes it as "a
mentorship of encourage
ment." He was also secure
enough to discuss whatever
he was working on.
After nine years in Los
Angeles, Rackley decided
she had a gap to fill.
"I wanted to learn more
about good literature. I felt
I had a responsibility as a
writer to read and study the
great works." She returned
to college at UCLA and in
one year completed the re-
3uirements for a bachelor's
cgree in English and
American literature.
Rackley found work in
the competitive Los Angeles
area but also many frustrat
ions. She completed a
screen adaptation of Frank
Waters' book People of the
Valley. So far, however, it
has not bee produced.
"It has kicked around for
a while. I've also written
several other projects that
may be produced." But Los
Angeles is a city in which
many deals are discussed,
few finalized and fewer still
that come to fruition. "That
was part of why I left. I
struggled for years, turned
down a lot of assignments
that I couldn't relate to -car
chases and things that
h ' j .
'
tj' tfjjff""' . '
Photo by Rodger Bruhn
Angela Rackley
smacked of self-righteousness."
Rackley came to Lincoln
to do research on the trial
of Standing Bear as well as
to escape the frustrations of
Los Angeles. She didn't
know anyone in the film
business here but she made
contact with people and has
kept up her contracts. And
the contracts have led to
jobs.
"I've been extremely
lucky. Marshall Jamison (of
ETV) asked me to do a
documentary, which was a
new experience. Some peo
ple leave a small place to go
to Los Angeles. I've done
the reverse. I've found new
opportunities and a new
place to grow."
TONIGHT
Brad Colerick
930 -12
Tequila Night
Most tequila drinks 75i
FRIDAY & SATURDAY
Blue River Review
a
MS North 13th irt
Lincoln. Nbrk
475-M07
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