Hollywood’s Graylist: Writers and Ageism : THE WRITERS : Some Friendly Advice

T imes staff writer Nina J. Easton’s article on ageism and writers in film and television (“Hey, Babes! How Old Is Too Old for Hollywood?,” Nov. 17) has produced an usually large response from readers. A sampling of their views appears here and on the facing page: Age discrimination works two ways.

I choose to discriminate against today’s vapid, puerile, unimaginative, insipid, tasteless films by staying away from the theaters. So, I believe, do many of my contemporaries. The industry might do well to consider whether the paucity of an older audience grows not from indolence or torpidity but from perception.

I also have a suggestion for those whose age excludes them from film work: Sit down and start writing novels. Novels are judged by what appears on the page, not by whether their authors have outgrown acne.

If you are successful, you can expect pubescent producers to line up to buy film rights, so that egocentric directors who know far more than you can distort your work into something unrecognizable. Then you can have the satisfaction of telling them precisely where they can put their offers.

DAVID BOWEN

Monrovia