At a WGA seminar in 2003, William Goldman denied the persistent rumor that he was the actual writer of Good Will Hunting: "I would love to say that I wrote it. Here is the truth. In my obit it will say that I wrote it. People don't want to think those two cute guys wrote it. What happened was, they had the script. It was their script. They gave it to Rob (Reiner) to read, and there was a great deal of stuff in the script dealing with the F.B.I. trying to use Matt Damon for spy work because he was so brilliant in math. Rob said, "Get rid of it." They then sent them in to see me for a day. I met with them in New York, and all I said to them was, "Rob's right. Get rid of the F.B.I. stuff. Go with the family, go with Boston, go with all that wonderful stuff.", and they did. I think people refuse to admit it because their careers have been so far from writing, and I think it's too bad. I'll tell you who wrote a marvelous script once, Sylvester Stallone. Rocky's a marvelous script. God, read it, it's wonderful. It's just got marvelous stuff, and then he stopped suddenly, because it's easier being a movie star and making all that money, than going in your pit and writing a script. But I did not write Good Will Hunting, alas. I would not have written the "It's not your fault" scene. I'm going to assume that 148 percent of the people in this room have seen a therapist. I certainly have, for a long time. Hollywood always has this idea that it's this shrink with only one patient. I mean, that scene with Robin Williams gushing and Matt Damon and they're hugging, "It's not your fault, it's not your fault." I thought, Oh God, Freud is so agonized over this scene. But Hollywood tends to do that with therapists." When Goldman died, his November 16, 2018, New York Times obituary did mention the rumor, but also debunked it, using Goldman's own words from the same WGA seminar: "Mr. Goldman was also a sought-after script doctor, well known for his uncredited work. He was widely believed to have written the script for "Good Will Hunting," the 1997 film that won Matt Damon and Ben Affleck the Oscar for best original screenplay. He denied it. 'I would love to say that I wrote "Good Will Hunting,"' Mr. Goldman said at a Writers Guild of America seminar in 2003. 'But I did not write it, alas.'"