In the early 1970s Taylor wrote the book "The Second Wave: British Drama of the Sixties", a follow-up to "Anger and After", and several television plays, including a version of "Dracula" with Denholm Elliott in the title role, which was praised by Kingsley Amis as the best version ever. In 1972, he moved to California, to teach film at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, serving as a Professor of Cinema from 1972 to 1978, while continuing to contribute to "The Times", as its American Cultural Correspondent, "Sight and Sound", "The New York Times", and the "Los Angeles Times". During this period, he wrote "Directors and Directions: Cinema for the Seventies" (1975).