Most writers are so used to being slapped around that they’re stunned that I want them at rehearsal. Only twice has this backfired. Once, the writer fell in love with the leading lady. He showed his love by trying to make her feel as insecure as possible. He was hoping she’d ask him to help her with her part at night. She complained to me, and I had to ask him to leave. The second case involved a writer who was ready to surrender anything he wrote so that the star of the picture might hire him the next time he needed a rewrite. If the star asked a simple question, such as “I’m not sure the time of day is clear here,” the writer would go downstairs, we’d hear the clackety-clack of his portable, and he’d be back with the scene rewritten to take place in a watch factory. It got embarrassing. The actors began to refer to him as “Round Heels.” At the end of a week I told him the script was frozen and that he was free to go home.