Saw this article in New York Times about how more students in writing programs are getting first dibs at publishing and a shot at Hollywood. Seems like ang mecca ng Creative Writing programs ay ang Iowa Writers Workshop, Stanford at sa University of California at Irvine. Hmm..nakaka-derail ha. Napapa-isip tuloy ako whether I should still go Media Studies or balik-CW na lang ako. At heto pa: most of the students opt to have books published (like Alice Sebold of Lovely Bones), next ang magsulat ng screenplays. (Si David Benioff wrote the novel "The 25th Hour" which Spike Lee turned into a movie.)

But no one wants to write for television. Lumalabas ang pagka-elitist ng mga tao. Of course tv is masa, what can I say. Ang sabi pa ng isang CW director: "We are living under the shadow of Hollywood." Dun daw, pag nag-dinner ang mga estudyante, imbes na mga nobela ang pag-usapan, puro movies. Natatakot daw sila kasi Hollywood is luring away all the good minds. Naalala ko tuloy si Holden Caulfield and his disdain that his brother sold out to Hollywood. Pag nagpelikula or tv ka ba, tainted ka na?

Pero karamihan na sa mga estudyante ngayon, they read less, and watch more. Pag nagtanong ka ng "Have you read this book?" Ang sagot sa iyo ay "I've seen the movie." Pag nagsusulat na ang mga tao ngayon, they keep thinking about how this would look on film. Sabi nga ni Paul Schrader, who wrote and directed "American Gigolo" and "Affliction" (adapted from Russell Banks's novel), and also wrote movies like "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull," said more literature was being written "to be film-friendly."

"When I was a student, the writer Robert Coover said the goal should be to write a novel that cannot be adapted to film," he said. "I doubt any student aspires to that today. I suppose these writing programs now resemble film school, a mad cancer putting out more and more people. I was once asked to run the film school at Columbia, and I said I wanted to winnow people out. The school said: `You can't do that. We make money for the university.' Writing programs are doing the same thing."

But like it or not, creative writing programs have become forces on the literary landscape. As Mr. Wolff said: "Most writers of my generation didn't pass through one of these programs, and as a young writer I certainly looked askance at them. And, yes, many universities treat them as cash cows, which I find repulsive. Somehow a huge number of people believe the myth that they'll get into a top program, and it will change their lives forever. I've taught at Columbia, and there's a huge tension in the room where there are a few students with a $30,000-a-year fellowship, and the rest of the room is paying $30,000."

"But at the same time," he added, "it has struck me that it's the best time I've ever known to be a young writer. There has always been a myth that first books are in hard times. But today all acquisition editors are looking for something new and put an outsized value on the new. The best programs provide an ideal apprenticeship for young writers."

Hoy Jol, this post is partly my response dun sa survey question mo. "Are you happy with what the CW program has given you?" Naisip ko lang, bakit di kaya sila magkaroon ng parang double major na lang na integrated ang literature/writing at film school? End of the world na ba ang suggestion ko?