What films influence a Hollywood scriptwriter for hire?

Pat Garret and Billy The Kid
Pat Garret and Billy The Kid

I get lots of people getting in touch with me who want to hire a Hollywood screenwriter and despite being based in the UK I get a lot of good work from America.

I love US genre cinema, with Walter Hill being among my favourite writer/directors, and Shane Black another script writing hero.

I often get asked what films I like and respect so potential clients can gauge what my taste in American cinema is.  So here, for prosperity are some of the films that have had a great influence on my writing…

  1. Pat Garret and Billy the Kid (1973) Written by Rudy Wurlitzer
  2. The Thing (1982) Written by Bill Lancaster
  3. Repo Man (1984) Written and Directed by Alex Cox
  4. To Live and Die in LA (1985) Written by William Friedkin and Gerald Petievich
  5. Goodfellas (1990) Written by Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese
  6. Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) Written by Tom Jankiewicz, John Cusak, Steve Pink & DV DeVincentis
  7. Breaking Away (1979) Written by Steve Tesich
  8. Streets of Fire (1984) Written by Walter Hill and Larry Gross
  9. Rumblefish (1983) Written by Francis Ford Coppola and S.E. Hinton
  10. Midnight Run (1988) Written by George Gallo

Of course, I have other influences and other great filmic passions as a writer, but the above films are the biggest influence on me.

Matthew Cooper has been a script writer for hire for over 20 years. He’s written for most of the UK soaps, including writing award winning episodes of Emmerdale, EastEnders, Hollyoaks and Family Affairs and has been BAFTA shortlisted and Royal Television Society nominated as a script writer. He’s also a leading UK script consultant. You can find some of his broadcast credits on the IMDb. You can get in touch with Matthew on matcoop23@yahoo.co.uk or hire him on Peopleperhour