Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biography/Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Michael Tolkin Collecton
Dates: 1981-2004
Collection Number: WGF-MS-128
Creator/Collector:
Extent: 2 linear feet
Repository:
Writers Guild Foundation Archive
Los Angeles, California 90048
Abstract: The Michael Tolkin Collection consists of screenplays and television pilots for produced and unproduced projects written by
Tolkin throughout his career.
Language of Material: English
Access
Available by appointment.
Publication Rights
The responsibility to secure copyright and publication permission rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. Michael Tolkin Collecton. Collection Number: WGF-MS-128. Writers Guild Foundation Archive
Acquisition Information
Donate by Michael Tolkin on February 3, 2022.
Biography/Administrative History
Michael Tolkin was born on October 17, 1950 to television writer Mel Tolkin and entertainment lawyer Edith Tolkin. He graduated
from Middlebury College in 1974 and works as a screenwriter and novelist. His credits include the novel and subsequent screenplay
adaptation of The Player, which was a critical hit when it was released in 1992 and earned Tolkin a WGA Award, a BAFTA, and
an Oscar nomination among others. Tolkin also wrote and directed the films The New Age and The Rapture as well as working
steadily for decades (credited and uncredited) on numerous features and TV projects. He created the TV miniseries Escape at
Dannemora, which earned him three Emmy nominations, and The Offer, about the making of the film the Godfather. He married
Wendy Mogel in 1978 and they have two daughters.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Michael Tolkin Collection consists of screenplays and television pilots written by Tolkin. Produced films are: Changing
Lanes, Deep Cover, Deep Impact, Gleaming the Cube, The New Age, The Player based on his novel, and The Rapture. The collection
also consists of drafts of produced screenplays on which Tolkin did revisions or rewriting but did not ultimately receive
final writing credit. These include The Punisher, The Hulk, Dawn of the Dead, and Road to Perdition. A few unproduced screenplays
by Tolkin are included: 3 Card Stud, 20 Million, Disappearance, Princess America, Ripley Under Ground based on the novel by
Patricia Highsmith, and The Time Bomb. The collection also includes unproduced television pilots H.M.O., The Next Big Thing
and a pilot script for The Player. Two manuscripts for published novels are included: The Return of the Player and Among the
Dead (with edits and annotations by Brett Easton Ellis).
