Jon Robin Baitz.

Occupation: Writer for stage, film, television. Current play: The Paris Letter (see review, p. 64).

Reputation: Writer of uncommon moral gravity. Concerned with issues of personal responsibility, power, and corruption.

Debut: Mizlansky/Zilinsky. Hilarious and scathing portrait of Hollywood B-movie producers premiered in Los Angeles as a one-act in 1985. Revised into a full-length play in 1998. Directed by Joe Mantello, with whom Baitz was partnered from 1990 to 2002. Couple's star quality lent the aura of a gay Lunt and Fontanne.

Breakthrough: The Substance of Fire (1991). Depicts the clash of emotional and professional values within a legendary book publishing family. Made into a 1997 film starring Ron Rifkin, who has appeared in many of Baitz's plays.

International experience: The Film Society (1985), Three Hotels (1990), and A Fair Country (1996) reflect Baitz's upbringing in Brazil and South Africa, where his father worked for Carnation Milk.

Quote: "I don't want to learn the point system, nor do I particularly want to know how to handle some of the more rabid producers in the world.... I want to muddle through a few plays and occasionally be sort of reasonably paid to try and write a movie."