THE ART OF SCREEN ADAPTATION
Top Writers Reveal Their Craft
Hollywood. Netflix. Amazon. BBC. Producers and audiences are hungrier than ever for stories, and a lot of those stories begin life as a book – but how exactly do you transfer a story from the page to the screen? Do adaptations use the same creative gears as original screenplays? Does a true story give a project more weight than a fictional one? Is it helpful to have the original author’s input on the script? And how much pressure is the screenwriter under, knowing they won’t be able to please everyone with the finished product?
Alistair Owen puts all these questions and many more to some of the top names in screenwriting, including Hossein Amini (Drive), Jeremy Brock (The Last King of Scotland), Moira Buffini (Jane Eyre), Lucinda Coxon (The Danish Girl), Andrew Davies (War & Peace), Christopher Hampton (Atonement), David Hare (The Hours), Olivia Hetreed (Girl with a Pearl Earring), Nick Hornby (An Education), Deborah Moggach (Pride & Prejudice), David Nicholls (Patrick Melrose) and Sarah Phelps (And Then There Were None).
Exploring fiction and nonfiction projects, contemporary and classic books, films and TV series, The Art of Screen Adaptation reveals the challenges and pleasures of reimagining stories for cinema and television, and provides a frank and fascinating masterclass with the writers who have done it – and have the awards and acclaim to show for it.
Praise for The Art of Screen Adaptation
‘A formidable repository of knowledge and experience, and a great resource for fledgling screenwriters and film fans alike’ Roger Michell, writer/director of My Cousin Rachel
‘A fascinating selection of new interviews. The likes of (a riotously entertaining) Sarah Phelps, David Nicholls and David Hare offer penetrating insights into both the craft of adaptation and their working processes, while Owen’s well-judged questions elicit valuable in-depth responses’ Alexander Larman, Observer
‘A fascinating new book . . . a series of interviews conducted and edited by Alistair Owen - the acknowledged doyen of the Q&A - with a dozen eminent screenwriters’ William Boyd, Sunday Times
‘A masterclass in reverse engineering, this book should go straight onto mandatory reading lists for screenwriting courses everywhere’ Daniel Rosenthal, author of The National Theatre Story
‘My favourite book-for-writers in years . . . A must-read for anyone who loves or writes adaptations, watches or writes for screen, enjoys movies and/or loves great writers and wants to get inside their heads’ Rose Servitova, author of The Watsons
‘An essential and brilliant read for all screenwriters. An instructive and illuminating read for all novelists. Required reading for anyone with a glint in their eye about a career as a working writer. Full of in-the-trenches advice from masters of their craft’ Stephen Volk, screenwriter of Ghostwatch
‘Alistair Owen has done writers a huge service with this book. He has uncovered a commonality of experience amongst experts in the field that will hopefully serve as a blueprint for those of us contemplating adaptations as part of our portfolios . . . Refreshingly free of jargon, this is highly accessible to writers at all stages of their careers’ Elinor Perry-Smith, Lock and load, brides of Christ