Initially taught English at a high school in Brigham City, Utah, as well as entertaining a brief journalistic career as a reporter for the New York World. He started in Hollywood as a title writer in 1927 for $100 a week. Robinson was signed as full screenwriter by Paramount (1933-34) and then secured a ten-year contract with Warner Brothers in 1935. There, he worked on some of Betty Davis's and Errol Flynn's best films, including
Captain Blood (1935),
Dark Victory (1939) and
Now, Voyager (1942). After leaving Warners, he had a spell at MGM, then joined 20th Century Fox (1949-54) as writer/producer.