Lucy

Tina Brown, turnaround editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, has written her first book, The Diana Chronicles. A bestseller about Lady Diana Spencer, the Princess of Wales, the book is very well-researched and thought out and ultimately as dull as the royal family.

Mark Farley and Clair Farley were born identical male twins. Six months ago, Clair changed her gender. Their story is told in a lovely, heartfelt documentary film, Red Without Blue. The film showed at Frameline 31, the LGBT Film Festival, and will be showing on the Sundance Channel.

Michael Ondaatje is best known for his novel, The English Patient. He has a new book out called Divisadero. I spoke with him on the San Francisco street that gives the book its name, where he told me why it was the best title for a book set primarily in Petaluma and southern France.

Rob Reger is enjoying the thirteenth anniversary of his character \”Emily the Strange.\” Reger went to the graduate program at the San Francisco Art Institute, where he says he learned to push a project beyond its apparent limits. He has so far brought Emily from t-shirt phenomenon to a major motion picture.

Faith Wheeler and Sara Barker are two highly original and successful food and wine branders. In an effort to make something of their own, they have written their first screenplay, which they submitted to a contest at the San Francisco Digital School of Filmmaking. The winner gets their screenplay made into a film. We get a closer look at the creative process, and at the anticipation that takes over while waiting for the contest\’s feedback.

Michael Taylor is the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle\’s car section. He is also the son of screenwriter Samuel Taylor, who wrote plays and movies (including Sabrina and Vertigo, which was made in San Francisco fifty years ago).

Steven Bach was the head of worldwide production at United Artists when the movie Heaven\’s Gate sank the company. Since then he\’s written four books. The new one, Leni: The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl, has just come out. She was the evil genius director of movies for the Nazis (she died recently, at 101).

Peter Morgan is perhaps the most celebrated screenwriter in the world right now, and he deserves to be. He\\\’s written five plays — four screenplays and one stage play — that establish his oeuvre. He\\\’s a great writer at the top of his game and we can only hope for more.

Lisa Loven is an ingenue from Norway. Right now in her country she is the star of a national advertising campaign for a food product. She moved to Los Angeles four months ago to become a movie actress. People I know think she\’s got a chance.

The San Francisco International Film Society has a new director, Graham Leggat. He (and about 50 other people, he tells me) put on a spectacular opening night for the 50th Anniversary. It\’s the oldest film festival in America and it\’s had its ups and downs, but things are looking up under this director.  Note: The photograph of Opening Night was taken by Tommy Lau.