No One Knows Their Names: Screenwriters in Hollywood

By Jorja Prover

This is the first study of Hollywood by an anthropologist. Jorja Prover examines how different groups of individuals, separated from one another superficially by ethnicity, race, and sex, function as writers in Hollywood. She describes the white "majority" Hollywood writers and explores their concerns and creative processes, and then discusses other writers who, until recently, have been virtually invisible in the entertainment industry-women, the physically challenged, gays, African Americans, Latinos, and Asians. In detailing their efforts at gaining professional acceptance, these writers introduce new, previously unmentioned issues involving access, advancement, talent, sexual harassment, and discrimination.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 087972658X
• ISBN13: 9780879726584
• Release Date: June 1994
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Prover is a master of bridging the middle ground

Prover is an exceptional author whose merits reach beyond words. In her analysis of Hollywood's piccadillos, she reveals many of the constructions of race and desire latent in the entertainment industry. Because this industry is fueled by consumers, the styles of entertainment valued and produced reveal much of society's attitudes towards norms and the value of culture in influencing them. Prover makes identity a clear issue as these connections are tied masterfully together in a wonderfully readable book.