From KCRW in Santa Monica, I'm Claude Brodesser Ackner, and this is The Business.

So you still want to do the show business, and you think that you got what it takes,

I mean you really got a rap and be all at, but prepare yourself for the brakes, check it out.

This week on the best of the business, in honor of the writer's strike, and to celebrate his new hit movie,

I Am Legend, we'll revisit our conversation with the Oscar-winning scribe, Akiva Golden.

We talk about the vital and disposable Hollywood writer.

Then, tis the season for Hollywood gifting.

From the town that brings new meaning to the phrase,

Ho! Ho! Ho!

It's the business from NPR.

An off-quoted scene in the Cohen Brothers' 1991 classic Barton Fink

gives you a sense of how the business often views the screenwriter.

In the scene, a writer, played by John Trouturo,

pleads for help from his producer, played by Tony Shalub,

over lunch in the studio commissaire.

Just having trouble getting started. It's funny. I'm blocked up. I just feel like I need

some kind of indication of what's expected. Wallace Sberi, wrestling picture, what do you need,

a roadmap? Look, you're confused. You need guidance? Talk to another writer.

Who?

Oh, Jesus.

If you throw a rock in here, you'll hit one.

Do me a favor of Fink.

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