Michael Tolkin Collecton

Title: Michael Tolkin Collecton

Dates: 1981-2004

Collection Number: WGF-MS-128

Creator/Collector:

Extent: 2 linear feet

Repository: Writers Guild Foundation Archive

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

Available by appointment.

The responsibility to secure copyright and publication permission rests with the researcher.

[Identification of item]. Michael Tolkin Collecton. Collection Number: WGF-MS-128. Writers Guild Foundation Archive

Donate by Michael Tolkin on February 3, 2022.

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.

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).