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Reported
by Statewide correspondent, Mike Tobias.
It
seems out of place. A restored Victorian house in a small Nebraska community.
But if you know Superior, you know there's lots of Victorian houses in town.
It's something Superior is proud of. On the surface, Lew Hunter seems as out
of place in rural Nebraska as his house. After all, he is a highly-successful
TV and movie producer, writer, and teacher. 100% Hollywood frequently dropping
names like --
[Lew Hunter]
"Cybill Shepherd, Sinatra, Marty Sheen, Sammy Davis, Judy Garland, Dina Shore,
Francis Coppola."
If you know Lew Hunter, you know that stereotype is far from reality.
[Hunter]
"I really consider myself a son of the soil and I'm very thankful for that
because I think I have a full life that other people that are pals of mine who
live in Beverly Hills and Bel Air and the San Fernando Valley and New York probably
don't have that -- I don't know if they're any better off or I'm better off
than they are but to me, it's important." Lew Hunter's
life is about storytelling as a program executive, a college professor, and
as a screenwriter banging out scripts on an ancient typewriter once owned
by comic actor and writer Ernie Kovacs.
[Hunter]
"Every nickel I've made as a writer has come from this typewriter."
So we will tell
you the Lew Hunter story the way that he would write it here in his writer's
shack or the way he would teach his screenwriting students to write it. In
three acts starting at the beginning. Lew Hunter grew up as a young child
on a farm outside of Guide Rock.
[Hunter]
"No electricity, no gas. We did have running water." He was raised
in an environment full of the pers. The family read Shakespeare and listened
to the Metropolitan Opera on the radio. His mom dressed him up in costumes
and he would sing, march in parades, or give violin or trombone recitals.
[Hunter]
"Causing people to smile, to think has always been part of my life when
I was such a small boy." Hunter later
moved to Superior and graduated from high school at 15. He entered college
at Nebraska Wesleyan and became active in theater. This grew into an interest
in broadcasting. While a student in Lincoln and at Northwestern University
in Chicago, he had jobs in local radio and TV. It was the 1950's, a time often
described as the glory years of television. Living in Chicago, Hunter now
faced a decision that would change his life.
[Hunter]
"New York I thought would be really terrifying if Chicago made me pretty
nervous. Oh, no, don't go to Los Angeles I was told. Don't go to Hollywood because
people will stab you in the front there. So one fella said if you want to make
it bad enough, go to Hollywood. He says, a little bit of doubt, stay in Chicago
where it's safe and warm. One out of 38 people I listened to."
So it was off
to L.A. Hunter quickly became a part of the growing world of network TV. He
landed a job in the mailroom at NBC. Money was tight so for entertainment
he went to network shows.
[Show Host]
"And you?"
[Hunter]
"Lew Hunter from Hollywood."
[Show Host]
"And you're married?"
[Hunter]
"Yes, I am." It was an exciting
time to be in television.
[Hunter]
"I can remember sitting in my office -- at that time I was in music clearance
and Terry came running in the office, one of my fellow workers, and he said,
oh, you've got to come over to stage four, Dina's got this unbelievable 19-year-old
child singing this…she's unbelievable. We took him at his word. We went over
there and Dina Shore was having new faces. Every year she had new faces night.
There was this 19-year-old child singing in slow contrapuntal to "Happy days
are here again, brother can you spare a dime," and it was Barbra Streisand."
But Hunter wanted a bigger role in what people were watching. He landed programming
jobs at ABC, NBC, and Disney. 
From
behind the camera, he worked on shows like "Little House on the Prairie," "Batman,"
"Peyton Place," "Bewitched," and "Quincy." Hunter says much has changed since
that time thanks mostly to the rapid growth of cable TV. 
[Hunter]
"We don't have that communal experience. We don't go in the next morning
and say god, did you say -- I mean we the audience. I'm not talking about the
programming people. Did you hear or see what was on Dina last night? Or did
you see last night or Dina Shore touched Harry Belafonte's arm as she was concluding
a song. That just erupted particularly the south and the station pulled out
of the show. Or did you see what was on "Defenders" last night? They had this
unbelievable show about euthanasia." Hunter also
started writing during this time. First, scripts for shows like "Bewitched,"
"Batman," and "Combat." Then TV movies. His breakthrough was "If Tomorrow
Comes," a 1971 story of Japanese- Americans placed in relocation camps during
World War II. It was one of the highest rated programs of the year.
[Scene from "Fallen
Angel"] "I need that innocent but pouty look just like she had."
Ten years later though a tale of child pornography put him on the "A" list for
screenwriters. "Fallen Angel" won a Writers' Gild award and earned an Emmy nomination.
It was the highest-rated TV movie in 1981. The topic was considered edgy for
commercial TV at the time so it took some work to get the movie on the air.
Hunter says it was worth the effort. 17 young victims of child pornography sought
help the day after seeing the show.
[Hunter]
"The opportunity to do movies of this nature, to cause people to think
about what they can do to help children begin in this world so they can become
substantial citizens becomes more than giving back. To me, it becomes just part
of one of the necessities that we should focus upon. And in the middle of the
story --" 
Success as a screenwriter gave Hunter the opportunity to help other writers.
He joined the prestigious UCLA Department of Film and Television in 1979. In
the two decades since, his students have penned blockbuster movies like "Forest
Gump," "Jurassic Park," "Men in Black," and "Mission Impossible." Almost all
of his students are making a living as film or TV writers.
[Hunter]
"I don't take credit for what my students have done. I take great pleasure
in being part of their process. And because the students -- I can probably,
if I had to, name 100 students who are wonderful professional screenwriters
today in both television and motion pictures.
"Something to
the effect that it's the ultimate grace a man or woman can have if he could
write with a hangover."
Hunter is well
connected. A quick call and people like Oscar-winning director and writer
Oliver Stone are speaking in Hunter's classroom. These visits are providing
material for Hunter's second book, "Naked Screenwriting: 20 Academy Award
Winning Screenwriters Bear Their Heart, Soul, Craft, and Secrets." His first
book, "Lew Hunter's Screenwriting 434," shares the secrets of his UCLA screenwriting
course. Act three is usually the conclusion but Lew Hunter's career is far
from over. He has moved back to his boyhood home in Superior.
[Hunter]
"I can be a citizen of the world and be right here in Superior, Nebraska."
Although he is not teaching full-time at UCLA, he is hardly retired. He plans
to use his second house in town to host workshops for professional writers and
he continues to teach at UCLA and abroad at places like the Sorbonne in Paris.
[Hunter]
"Ever since I have been a professional writer, I have always had a sanctuary
or a womb if you will.
From the cozy confines of his backyard shack, he continues to write. He works
under the watchful gaze of hundreds of other storytellers. Willa Cather, another
southcentral Nebraskan, watches from above."
[Hunter]
"She has that glint in her eye as if it's really not all that serious though
it's right. It's going to be fine. 
You
just sit there and think just a little bit longer and you will come up with
something much better I'm sure. And so she's sort of my patron saint."
Hundreds of
small storyteller figurines watch from the shelves surrounding the room. It's
a collection from around the world, each with something to say and an audience
to entertain and inform. When you get down to basics, Lew Hunter is one of
them.
[Hunter]
"I really want to shed some light in any stray corner of the world that
I might be fortunate enough to touch, and using stories to do that is maybe
the best way of all."
[Mike Tobias, reporting] "So is that?" [Hunter]
I'll take it. (laughing)... I like that image. I'm happy to do that. Finger
in the air. Let me tell you a story about.