In 1929 Mankiewicz got a contract to work as a writer at Paramount, through his brother Herman. Herman was one of the writers on "The Dummy" (1929), on which Mankiewicz wrote titles. He also did titles for "Close Harmony" (1929) and "The Man I Love" (1929) with Jack Oakie, "The Studio Murder Mystery" (1929), "Thunderbolt" (1929), "The River of Romance" (1929), "The Saturday Night Kid" (1929) with Clara Bow, "The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu" (1929), and "The Virginian" (1929) with Gary Cooper.