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Joe Eszterhas
As one of the highest-paid and most notorious writers in 1990s Hollywood, Joe Eszterhas became that rare modern screenwriter who was able to lay claim to achieving auteur status. With plots that tended to focus on love and betrayal, Eszterhas made his debut with "F.I.S.T." (1978). He had his first major hit with the memorable "Flashdance" (1983), before tackling more mature fare like "Betrayed" (1988) and "Music Box" (1989). But Eszterhas achieved a great deal of infamy with his most successful movie, the erotic thriller "Basic Instinct" (1992), which he sold for a whopping $3 million and pushed the envelope on sexual content. He continued to explore the facets of eroticism with "Sliver" (199) and "Jade" (1995).