Howard Oliver Sackler (December 19, 1929 – October 12, 1982) was an American screenwriter and playwright who is best known for writing The Great White Hope (play: 1967; film: 1970). The Great White Hope enjoyed both a successful run on Broadway and, as a film adaptation, in movie theaters. James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander both starred in the original Arena Stage production of the play in Washington, DC, then brought their roles to Broadway and later to the film version. Both Jones and Alexander received Academy Award nominations for their work in the movie.

Ben Hecht (February 28, 1894 New York – April 18, 1964 New York) was a Broadway playwright and prolific Hollywood screenwriter, even though he professed disdain for the motion picture industry. He was nominated six times for the Academy Award, winning twice, in 1929 and in 1936.

Bruce Jay Friedman (born April 26, 1930) is an American novelist, screenwriter, and playwright.

Budd Schulberg (born March 27, 1914, in New York City, New York) is American. Novelist and screenwriter. Most famous as the author of "What Makes Sammy Run?". Oscar winning screenwriter of "On the Waterfront"; and the famous expose of boxing film "The Harder They Fall".

Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 - August 18, 1963) was a playwright of the most searing social protest plays written during the Depression: "Awake and Sing" (strong Jewish themes) and "Waiting For Lefty". Screenwriter of "The Golden Boy".

Daniel Fuchs (June 25, 1909 - July 26, 1993) Fuchs' critically acclaimed but financially unsuccessful novels about Brooklyn Jews were published in the thirties and republished in the sixties as "The Williamsburg Trilogy". In between he was a successful Hollywood screenwriter responsible for the scripts of "Panic in the Streets" (Elia Kazan) and "Love Me or Leave Me" (featuring James Cagney as a jealous Jewish gangster).

David Alan Mamet (born November 30, 1947) is an American author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, and film director. His works are known for their clever, terse, sometimes vulgar dialogue, arcane stylized phrasing, and for his exploration of masculinity.

Donald Margulies (Born: 1954) is an American playwright whose plays include the Pulitzer Prize-winning Dinner With Friends. Other plays include Shipwrecked! An Entertainment — The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (As Told by Himself) (opening at South Coast Repertory in September 2007), Brooklyn Boy (2004), Sight Unseen (1991) and Collected Stories (1996) all of which were commissioned and originally produced by South Coast Repertory. Sight Unseen and Collected Stories were also both finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Elmer Rice (b. Elmer L. Reizenstein, September 28, 1892, New York, New York; d. May 8, 1967, Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK) was an early 20th century American playwright. His first marriage, in 1915 to Hazel Levy, ended in divorce in 1942; he then married actress Betty Field. They had three children before their divorce in 1956

Erich Wolf Segal (born June 16, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York) is an author of that mega-seller, "Love Story". Segal says he modeled "Oliver" partially after Al Gore and Al's college roommate, actor Tommy Lee Jones.

Frederick Kohner (25 September 1905, Teplitz-Schönau, Austria-Hungary [now Teplice, Czech Republic] - 7 July 1986, Los Angeles, California, USA), Hollywood screenwriter who wrote a number of fairly unmemorable scripts. However, he had a big success with his novel "Gidget", about the antics of his teenage daughter.

Gail Parent is an American television and screenwriter, television producer, and author.

Harold Pinter (born 10 October 1930) is a British Playwright. Born in 1930 in London. Considered one of the most important playwrights of the post-war era. His plays include "The Homecoming" and "The Caretaker".

Harvey Forbes Fierstein (born June 6, 1952) is an American Tony Award-winning and Emmy Award-winning actor, playwright, and screenwriter.

Irving Wallace (March 19, 1916 - June 29, 1990) was an American bestselling author and screenwriter. He was the father of Olympic historian David Wallechinsky and author Amy Wallace.

Israel Horvitz (born March 31, 1939 in Wakefield, Massachusetts) is an American playwright. Best known for "The Indian Wants the Bronx". Father of Adam Horovitz of the "Beastie Boys", rap group.

Martin Sherman (born 1939) is an American playwright. His most succesful play was "Bent" about the persecution of gays in Nazi Germany. He is also the author of "Rose", about an elderly Jewish woman. Sherman also wrote the screenplay for the film version of "Bent".

Norman Lewis Corwin (born May 3, 1910) is an American writer, screenwriter, producer, essayist and teacher of journalism and writing. His earliest and biggest success was in the writing and directing of radio drama during the 1930s and 1940s.

Sidney Aaron Chayefski (January 29, 1923 – August 1, 1981) known as Paddy Chayefsky was an acclaimed dramatist who transitioned from the golden age of American live television in the 1950s to have a successful career as a playwright and screenwriter for Hollywood.