Carringer Chapter 2

Chapter 2 describes the scripting process pertaining to Citizen Kane. I found great interest in Carringer’s description of the process of acquiring individuals to work for the film. I also found the naming of the project to be an intriguing process. The film’s original title, “The American,” appears to be too general of a title for the specificities of the film. It was only after the project was well thought out that the title switched to “Citizen Kane.” Mankiewicz, the screenwriter of the film, had a complicated career in Hollywood up until his death in 1953. He was experienced, worked solely in screenwriting films (which was rare at the time), but also struggled in his personal life due to his addiction to alcohol. This was the reason why Mankiewicz had to dedicate all of his work to Hollywood, mainly because Houseman, the editor of Citizen Kane, had to keep Mankiewicz “on course” (17). The two worked together for an extended period of time in order to create the script, which was 50-60 pages longer than what was already the longest script ever written. Those involved in the film's production were quite worried about this issue. In the end, it was not until the fourth draft was created that editors settled on the script. Attributing proper credit to the correct screenwriter, an issue that was common at this time an history, resulted during the production of the film. Mankiewicz and Welles fought over writer credit because Welles originally intended to take sole credit for the entirety of the film.