On Golden Pond and Other Stories: A Chat with Screenwriter Ernest Thompson

The Bookplate bookstore and Retriever Bar will co host author and playwright Ernest Thompson for their Authors and Oysters series 6 pm, Wednesday, January 18

Ernest Thompson is a consummate storyteller no matter which hat he wears: screenplay writer, playwright, film director, or musician. Add to that list his newly published novel The Book of Maps and forthcoming Out Clause and you still won’t have a complete portrait of the man’s accomplishments and ongoing projects.

Thompson, a New Englander with ties to the Eastern Shore, became fascinated with play writing early in college. The studies and writing paid off with the 1979 Broadway premier of On Golden Pond followed by the 1981 Academy Award winning movie for which he received an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Many plays and awards followed, along with acting appearances in soap operas and weekly tv series. Among his many credits are The West Side Waltz, which opened on Broadway, starring Katharine Hepburn, and for which he later wrote and directed a television version, starring Shirley MacLaine; and the screenplay for the feature film Sweet Hearts Dance, starring Susan Sarandon and Jeff Daniels.

Thompson told the Spy that he turned to writing a novel during the dark days of the pandemic. He, and his wife, writer Kerrin Thompson, hunkered down to isolate but that their New England work ethic propelled them into long awaited projects. For Ernest, The Book of Maps, a father and son’s cross-country odyssey, was born.

Friend and fellow musician, Carly Simon wrote “A good father despite himself; a forgiving child despite it all. Their adventures will make you worry, weep, and laugh out loud.”

Here, Ernest Thompson talks about the craft and challenges of writing, the differences between playwriting and writing for the screen and how the Book of Maps came to be.

This video is approximately nine minutes in length. For more about Ernest Thompson, please go here.