Ronald Bass - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This article is about the screenwriter. For the professional wrestler

Professional wrestling

Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...

see Ronald Herd
Ronald Herd
Ronald Heard is a former American professional wrestler, best known under the name Ron Bass. His gimmick was a Texan cowboy who entered World Wrestling Federation rings to the sound of a bullwhip.-Career:...

.

Ronald Jay Bass (born March 26, 1942), sometimes credited

WGA screenwriting credit system

In the United States, screenwriting credit for motion pictures and television programs under its jurisdiction is determined by either the Writers Guild of America, East or the Writers Guild of America, West . Since 1941, the Guilds have been the final arbiter of who receives credit for writing a...

as Ron Bass, is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

screenwriter

Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

. Also a film producer

Film producer

A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

, Bass's work is characterized as being highly in demand, and he is thought to be among the most highly paid writers in Hollywood. He is often called the "King of the Pitches". In 1988, he received the Academy Award

Academy Awards

An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

for Best Original Screenplay for Rain Man

Rain Man

Rain Man is a 1988 drama film written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass and directed by Barry Levinson. It tells the story of an abrasive and selfish yuppie, Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed all of his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son,...

, and film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

s that Bass is associated with are regularly nominated for multiple motion picture awards.

Life and career

Bass was born in Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

. From the age of 3 to 11, Bass was afflicted with an undiagnosed condition that kept him bedridden. His symptoms included respiratory

Respiration (physiology)

'In physiology, respiration is defined as the transport of oxygen from the outside air to the cells within tissues, and the transport of carbon dioxide in the opposite direction...

problems and stomach pain

Abdominal pain

Abdominal pain can be one of the symptoms associated with transient disorders or serious disease. Making a definitive diagnosis of the cause of abdominal pain can be difficult, because many diseases can result in this symptom. Abdominal pain is a common problem...

s with high fever

Fever

Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...

s and nausea

Nausea

Nausea , is a sensation of unease and discomfort in the upper stomach with an involuntary urge to vomit. It often, but not always, precedes vomiting...

. It was during this illness, at age six, that Bass is said to have started writing

Writing

Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols . It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.Writing most likely...

.

During his teens, Bass began work on a novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

, which he entitled Voleur. He completed this work at age 17 and showed it to his English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

teacher. He took her critique

Literary criticism

Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...

of his first completed project quite hard. She described the writing as very good, but she felt that it was too personal to be published. Bass's response was to later burn his manuscript

Manuscript

A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...

. Later in life, Bass recalled "it was like the voice of God telling me I didn't have what it takes to be a writer, and I should find something practical to do with my life". Bass would revisit his teenage writings later in life.

Bass entered law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

studies, first at Stanford, then Yale

YALE

RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...

, and finally at Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

, where he graduated in 1967 with a degree in law. He seemed quite confident about his future prospects, saying, "When I learned there was such a thing as entertainment law, I thought, 'This is where I belong'". Back in Los Angeles, Bass began a seventeen year career practicing law in the entertainment business. He was successful, and eventually rose to the level of partner

Partnership

A partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain commonplace...

in his law firm

Law firm

A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...

.

Bass has worked with his sister Diane Bass, who served as an uncredited technical consultant on the film Rain Man

Rain Man

.

As he moved up the career ladder in law, the love of writing that Bass had acquired as a child never left him. He started writing again, usually during the predawn hours before going to work. Writing and working at unusual hours became a lifelong habit of his. In 1974, he began to rework his novel Voleur, apparently from memory, as he had—in a fit of pique—burned the manuscript when he was 17. In 1978, he completed the work, renaming it The Perfect Thief (ISBN 0-515-04622-1). This was the first of his three published novels. In 1982, Bass published his second novel, Lime's crisis: A novel (ISBN 0-688-01025-3). The Lime referred to in the title is Harry Lime, the central mystery character of the 1949 motion picture The Third Man

The Third Man

The Third Man is a 1949 British film noir, directed by Carol Reed and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Many critics rank it as a masterpiece, particularly remembered for its atmospheric cinematography, performances, and unique musical score...

. On January 1, 1984, his third novel was published, The Emerald Illusion (ISBN 0-688-02622-2). The following year, he wrote the screenplay Code Name: Emerald

Code Name: Emerald

Code Name: Emerald is a 1985 action-drama film about a spy for the Allies working undercover in Nazi Germany during World War II. The film was directed by Jonathan Sanger, and stars Ed Harris, Max von Sydow, Eric Stoltz, and Patrick Stewart...

, based on this novel. It was his debut as a screenwriter with a produced script.

As a screenwriter, Bass is known for successfully working in collaboration with other writers, including Amy Tan

Amy Tan

Amy Tan is an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships. Her most well-known work is The Joy Luck Club, which has been translated into 35 languages...

on The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club is a best-selling novel written by Amy Tan. It focuses on four Chinese American immigrant families in San Francisco, California who start a club known as "the Joy Luck Club," playing the Chinese game of mahjong for money while feasting on a variety of foods...

and Al Franken

Al Franken

Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....

on When a Man Loves a Woman

When a Man Loves a Woman (film)

When a Man Loves a Woman is a 1994 American romantic drama film written by Al Franken and Ronald Bass, starring Andy García, Meg Ryan, Tina Majorino, Mae Whitman, Ellen Burstyn, Lauren Tom and Philip Seymour Hoffman....

.

Detractors of Bass's works describe his stories as overly sentimental. A director working on a Bass-written movie said, "Every character is a little too nice, and everything has to be tied up in a sweet little bundle".

“The Ronettes”

A small controversy has arisen over Bass' use of assistants to help him write screenplays. While it is common for screenwriters to employ assistants to help them with research and typing, Bass employs six or seven mostly female assistants that one journalist dubbed “The Ronettes”. According to Bass, his assistants help him in research and also in critiquing his scripts. They enable him to write, revise or polish a comparatively large number of screenplays per year.

Novels

The Perfect Thief, 1978, ISBN 0-515-04622-1
Lime's crisis: A novel, 1982, ISBN 0-688-01025-3
The Emerald Illusion, January 1, 1984, ISBN 0-688-02622-2

Films

Please see the WGA screenwriting credit system

WGA screenwriting credit system

for an explanation of the terms story by, screenplay by, and written by. Also note that under the rules of the Writers Guild of America

Writers Guild of America

The Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....

, Bass has not received onscreen credit for every script he has contributed to. It is thought that Bass has helped to write or consulted on more than 100 screenplays (not all of which have necessarily been produced).

Film	Year	Writing Credit	Producing Credit	Alternate Name Credit	Additional Information
Amelia Amelia (film) Amelia is a 2009 English-language biographical film of the life of Amelia Earhart, starring Hilary Swank as Earhart along with a cast that includes Richard Gere, Christopher Eccleston and Ewan McGregor. It is directed by Mira Nair based on a script initially written by Ronald Bass...	2009	screenplay	executive producer
Just Like Heaven	2005	screenplay
Mozart and the Whale Mozart and the Whale Mozart and the Whale is a 2005 romantic comedy-drama film starring Josh Hartnett and Radha Mitchell, and directed by Petter Næss.-Plot:...	2005	written	producer	as Ron Bass
The Lazarus Child The Lazarus Child The Lazarus Child is a 2004 American drama film directed by Graham Theakston. It was filmed in Canada and the United Kingdom. Entitled The Last Door in Canada.-Plot:...	2004	screenplay	executive producer
Passion of Mind Passion of Mind Passion of Mind is a 2000 American psychological drama film starring Demi Moore. It was the first English-language film from Belgian director Alain Berliner, best known for the arthouse success Ma Vie en Rose.-Plot:...	2000	written	producer	as Ron Bass
Snow Falling on Cedars Snow Falling on Cedars (film) Snow Falling on Cedars is a film directed by Scott Hicks. It is based on David Guterson's novel of the same title. It was released in 1999 and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.-Plot:...	1999	screenplay	producer	as Ron Bass
Entrapment	1999	story & screenplay	executive producer	as Ron Bass
Swing Vote Swing Vote (2008 film) Swing Vote is a 2008 comedy-drama film about an entire U.S. presidential election determined by the vote of one man. It was directed by Joshua Michael Stern and starred Kevin Costner, Paula Patton, Kelsey Grammer, Dennis Hopper, Nathan Lane, Stanley Tucci, George Lopez and Madeline Carroll...	1999	written		as Ron Bass	made for television
Invisible Child Invisible Child Invisible Child is a 1999 film starring Rita Wilson as a mother who imagines she has three children when she only has two. Fearing his wife may be institutionalized because of her mental illness, her husband goes along with this charade as though it is perfectly normal. The 10-year old daughter...	1999	story		as Ron Bass	made for television
Border Line	1999	story & teleplay		as Ron Bass	made for television
Stepmom	1998	screenplay	executive producer	as Ron Bass
What Dreams May Come What Dreams May Come (film) What Dreams May Come is a 1998 American supernatural drama film, starring Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Annabella Sciorra. The film is based on the 1978 novel of the same name by Richard Matheson, and was directed by Vincent Ward. The title is taken from a line in Hamlet's To be, or not to...	1998	screenplay	executive producer	as Ron Bass
How Stella Got Her Groove Back How Stella Got Her Groove Back How Stella Got Her Groove Back is a 1998 romance film, directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan. The film stars Angela Bassett, Taye Diggs, Whoopi Goldberg and Regina King. This film is an adaptation of Terry McMillan's bestselling novel by the same title...	1998	screenplay	executive producer	as Ron Bass
My Best Friend's Wedding My Best Friend's Wedding My Best Friend's Wedding is a 1997 romantic comedy film directed by P. J. Hogan. It stars Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Dermot Mulroney, Rupert Everett, and Philip Bosco.The film received mostly positive reviews from critics...	1997	written	producer
Waiting to Exhale Waiting to Exhale Waiting to Exhale is a 1995 romance film starring Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett, directed by Forest Whitaker. The movie was adapted from the 1992 novel of the same name by Terry McMillan. Loretta Devine, Lela Rochon, Dennis Haysbert, Michael Beach, Gregory Hines, Donald Faison and Mykelti...	1995	screenplay	executive producer
Dangerous Minds Dangerous Minds Dangerous Minds is an American drama film based on the autobiography My Posse Don't Do Homework by former U.S. Marine LouAnne Johnson, who took up a teaching position at Carlmont High School in Belmont, California, where most of her students were African-American and Hispanic teenagers from East...	1995	screenplay
Reunion	1994	teleplay			made for television
When a Man Loves a Woman When a Man Loves a Woman (film) When a Man Loves a Woman is a 1994 American romantic drama film written by Al Franken and Ronald Bass, starring Andy García, Meg Ryan, Tina Majorino, Mae Whitman, Ellen Burstyn, Lauren Tom and Philip Seymour Hoffman....	1994	written	executive producer		role as "AA Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio... man #1"
The Enemy Within	1994	teleplay		as Ron Bass	made for television
The Joy Luck Club The Joy Luck Club The Joy Luck Club is a best-selling novel written by Amy Tan. It focuses on four Chinese American immigrant families in San Francisco, California who start a club known as "the Joy Luck Club," playing the Chinese game of mahjong for money while feasting on a variety of foods...	1993	screenplay	producer
Sleeping with the Enemy Sleeping with the Enemy (1991 film) Sleeping with the Enemy is a 1991 psychological thriller film directed by Joseph Ruben and starring Julia Roberts. The film is based on Nancy Price's 1987 novel of the same name...	1991	screenplay
Rain Man Rain Man Rain Man is a 1988 drama film written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass and directed by Barry Levinson. It tells the story of an abrasive and selfish yuppie, Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed all of his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son,...	1988	screenplay			Oscar for Best Original Screenplay
Gardens of Stone Gardens of Stone Gardens of Stone is a 1987 film by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel of the same title by Nicholas Proffitt.A drama, it stars James Caan, Anjelica Huston, James Earl Jones and D. B. Sweeney.-Plot:...	1987	screenplay
Black Widow	1987	written
Code Name: Emerald Code Name: Emerald Code Name: Emerald is a 1985 action-drama film about a spy for the Allies working undercover in Nazi Germany during World War II. The film was directed by Jonathan Sanger, and stars Ed Harris, Max von Sydow, Eric Stoltz, and Patrick Stewart...	1985	screenplay			adapted from his novel The Emerald Illusion

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.