Screenwriter Warren Edward Skaaren, son of Morris and Pearl Skaaren, was born in Rochester, Minnesota, on March 9, 1946. He graduated from Rochester Community College in 1966 and enrolled at Rice University in Houston, Texas. There he met Helen Griffin, whom he married on March 7, 1969 (separated, 1989). Upon his graduation from Rice in 1969 with a degree in art, Skaaren, who had served as student body president during his final year of college, moved to Austin to work for Texas governor Preston Smith first as a human resources program analyst and then as an urban development coordinator. Skaaren lived in Austin for the remainder of his life.
In 1971, while working for Smith, Skaaren wrote a formal proposal to establish the Texas Film Commission and was influential in its creation. He served as the Commission's first executive director and remained in that position until March 1974, when he resigned to form the Skaaren Corporation, a media consulting firm. At the same time, he was a founder of FPS, Inc., a Dallas-based television and film production company, and later served as chairman of its board of directors. Skaaren also worked on documentaries, commercials, and various other projects.
In 1983, under the sponsorship of Fred Fox, Skaaren completed the script
Skaaren and his wife had seven foster children, and he was a founding director of the Travis County Foster Parents Association. In addition, he served on the board of directors of the Deborah Hay Dance Company. Skaaren established the Laurel Foundation, a private charitable trust, in 1986, and was also involved with the East West Center, a macrobiotic dietary provider.
Skaaren died of bone cancer in Austin, Texas, on December 28, 1990. His papers were donated to the HRC in 1993.
More information about Skaaren and his works may be found in
The primary focus of the collection is on Skaaren's work as a screenwriter in the late 1980's. Included are drafts, revision pages, treatments, synopses, story analyses, outlines, charts, memos, notes, clippings, bibliographies, transcripts, maps, newsletters and other printed matter, shooting schedules, continuity notes, storyboards, memorabilia, photographs, negatives, slides, stills, posters, correspondence, business cards, brochures, audio and video cassettes, invoices, receipts, distribution statements, agreements, and certificates of authorship, all ranging in date from 1946-1991 (bulk, 1970-1990). Arrangement is in three series: Film and Theatre Projects; Research Files; and Technical Files. The Research Files series is arranged in three subseries: Story Ideas, Various Subjects, and Technical Files. While Skaaren's works have been arranged alphabetically, Research and Technical Files have been reordered by subject. Materials within folders remain in the order in which they arrived.
All of Skaaren's significant works are represented in the collection, including his first projects,
Because Skaaren kept letters and memos with the manuscripts of his works, correspondence is scattered throughout the collection. Among notable correspondents are producers Jerry Bruckheimer, Jon Peters, Don Simpson, and Doug Wick; writer, producer, and director Ted Flicker; directors Tim Burton and Tony Scott; actors Tom Cruise and Michael Douglas; Grace Reiner of the Writer's Guild of America; personnel at Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers; and Mike Simpson at the William Morris Agency.
Skaaren's film and theatre projects include projects which produced a script and projects on which Skaaren served in some capacity other than as a writer. Research material, drafts, revision pages, notes, memos, production material, photographs, stills, posters, articles and reviews, contracts, financial records, credit arbitration documents, and similar material relating to Skaaren's film projects comprise the largest series in the archive. Arrangement is by the final title given to a project (with variant titles supplied in brackets in the folder list), and thereunder by material relating to the writing of a script, including drafts and research files; information about the film's production, publicity, and release; agreements and payments; and screenwriting credit arbitration.
Books, notes, clippings, and other research material compiled by Skaaren and his research assistant, Linda Vance, reveal the amount of research behind Skaaren's work. Multiple drafts, outlines, and scene revisions of a screenplay, including those by other authors, trace its evolution, while memos and notes, including details of meetings and telephone calls, reveal the dynamic involvement of the studio, producers, director, actors, and writers in the revision process. Character motivation charts, action flow charts, and script outlines show Skaaren's particular concern with character and story structure.
Arbitration materials provide insight into the contributions of various script writers on a single project, the determination of credit by the Writer's Guild, and the importance of that formal credit. The financial aspect of projects can be seen in contracts, agreements, payments, clippings from
Skaaren's first projects, the documentary
Extensive materials for Skaaren's most successful projects,
In addition to his film work, Skaaren wrote a play for Heloise Gold,
Skaaren's folder titles, as well as those made by his assistant Linda Vance, who printed and labeled some of Skaaren's files after his death, have been retained and are indicated in the folder list by single quotation marks. Indications of draft sequences are transcribed from the title pages, spines, and covers of manuscripts, with those written in Skaaren's hand being enclosed in single quotations. Because screenwriting credits changed frequently, author information is also transcribed from the title pages of the screenplays.
The series is divided into three subseries: Story Ideas, Various Subjects, and Technical Files.
Story ideas are those which never produced a script; among these are undeveloped ideas for screenplays about U. S. Customs agents, the Galveston hurricane of 1900, consumerism, and other subjects.
A small group of clippings and notes about ranch technology, psychology, owls, and many other subjects of research or personal interest to Skaaren are also present. Cartoons and articles about unusual subjects that appealed to Skaaren reveal his sense of humor.
Technical aids include materials from a comedy writing workshop taught by Danny Simon, notes on writing techniques, interviewing, film financing, and production, as well as on directors, writers, actors, and producers. Skaaren also gathered travel resource information and business cards of providers of a variety of services.
Arranged alphabetically by title, the series includes drafts of the screenplays
Books, primarily used by Skaaren in his research, that arrived with the collection have been cataloged separately with the Center's book holdings. Videos that Skaaren acquired for purposes of research, for personal interest, and as screen tests, dailies, and preview prints of films he worked on are also part of the collection.
Gift, 1993
Open for research
Katherine Mosley, 1994-95