Following his journalistic beginnings, he worked under contract as a script doctor for 20th Century Fox. After leaving Fox, he became a freelance journalist and columnist for magazines like "Colliers", "Saturday Evening Post" and "Good Housekeeping". In addition to his subsequent work for
John Ford (of whom he had been an ardent admirer from his time as a key reviewer for "The New York Times"), he was a contract writer for Columbia from 1957-60.