Screenwriter Rudolph Wurlitzer is considered "the individual most responsible for exploring this genre, having practically invented it himself in the late '60s and then helped to nurture it in the scripts of others", such as McBride's Glen and Randa, Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop, Cox's Walker, and Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Wurlitzer worked on the script of Gone Beaver, which Rosenbaum describes as "a visionary script" for Jim McBride.
Rudolph Wurlitzer is seen as "the primary force behind delving into this genre, having essentially pioneered it himself in the late '60s and then helped nurture it through his collaborations with other writers", such as those responsible for Glen, Two-Lane Blacktop, Walker, and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Wurlitzer worked on the script of Gone Beaver, which Rosenbaum portrays as a pioneering work for Jim McBride.