Writer Ron Hutchinson recently left California for the East Coast. He currently lives and writes in Brooklyn and says, “Over the past two years I have been participating in a study to determine how fast you can drain a bank balance by renovating a brownstone in Brooklyn! I’m also in the process of becoming Irish-American. I find myself in Clinton Hill, near the Navy Yards, where the Irish first moved in 1880’s when they began making money.”
Hutchinson is an award-winning screen, stage and TV writer who has been awarded Emmy, Ace and Drama Desk awards. He has taught at the American Film Institute and worked in Hollywood for 30 years with some of the biggest names in the business including Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Robin Williams, Samuel L. Jackson and Steven Spielberg. His new book “Clinging to the Iceberg: Writing for a Living on the Stage and in Hollywood” has a foreword by Brian Dennehy and will be published by Oberon Books in April.
“Clinging to the Iceberg” is filled with funny and entertaining anecdotes from Ron’s successful career writing in the U.S., U.K. and Europe. Along with storytelling about the business and people he worked with, Hutchinson offers instruction, tips and wisdom about jump starting your career and maintaining it for many years. He offers keen insights into writing, what to watch for when re-writing and editing your drafts, advice on coping with the demands of production and staying mentally and emotionally sound as your career progresses. Hutchinson also reports on the rewards you will receive once you are established, as well as the crazy nature of the business itself.
Hutchinson’s advice for a writer who is just starting out is “You should write about who you are. Writing about what you know is journalism. Writing about who you are is art.” He calls his approach non-academic, stating, “My stories and images are taken from my childhood in a remote part of Ireland, through teenage years in Coventry, to Los Angeles and now to the East Coast. On that journey from Belfast to Brooklyn via Beverly Hills I collected a few yarns which might help anybody thinking of a career in writing. I share practical advice not cineaste theory, drawn from my paid work as a writer in the U.K., U.S. and Europe.”
