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My favorites are: The apartment, Irma la Douce, Sunset Boulevard and Some like it hot. I envy writers who have found a great matching writing partner with who they can collaborate for many years. Betty Comden and Adolph Green, the Coen brothers, Robert and Michelle King, etc...are all great writing collaborations.

My favorites: Sunset Blvd. and Some LIke it Hot. Wonderful movies. Very interesting what he says about structure and how everybody has their own methods. Last year I attended a lecture by Guillermo Arriaga, and he said he starts writing without any previous outline or character work. He said he likes to be surprised by what characters do and say. But the interesting part is that he rewrites a lot. I think he does over ten drafts per project. So maybe we should consider his first drafts are a kind of outline. I don't know. Sometimes I wish I had a writing partner. I remember Akira Kurosawa said he liked to write with partners so he could avoid just writing what would be easy to direct. (It's in his autobiography) There's also the wonderful DVD "Billy Wilder Speaks" by Volker Schlôndorff. Highly recommended.

Shari, having worked with two writing partners, I can attest to the value of having another voice around... especially if you are writing comedy, a great way to test humor. But there are downsides as well, so whoever you write with, you have to approach it akin to a marriage. That said, if you can make it work as a solo writer, that is best for a lot of reasons, but mostly because you control the final product in its totality. But yes, how nice if each of us had an I.A.L. Diamond to work with!

Trust me, Alejandro, Arriaga, while a brilliant writer, represents a minority of professional writers who 'break' stories in prep. Moreover Arriaga has worked enough in the business to have an intuitive sense of beginning, middle and end.

Yikes, hard to choose--am also a huge "Apartment" and "Hot" fan. Having said that, "Ball of Fire" may be my absolute top Wilder pick. I think"A Foreign Affair" is overlooked too often--bleak, dark and yet romantic.

Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Sunset Blvd., Stalag 17, Double Indemnity and Ace in the Hole. Still good are A Foreign Affair and Love in the Afternoon. And then there’s always Cameron Crowe’s book of interviews ‘Conversations With Wilder’ to enjoy.