Description
'If you decide to adapt a classic or much-loved book, your working maxim should be, 'How will it work best as a film?' However faithful it is to the original, if it's not interesting onscreen then you've failed.' - William Boyd in Story and Character: Interviews with British Screenwriters
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.
About the Author
Alistair Owen is the author of Smoking in Bed: Conversations with Bruce Robinson (one of David Hare's Books of the Year in the Guardian), Story and Character: Interviews with British Screenwriters and Hampton on Hampton (one of Craig Raine's Books of the Year in the Observer). He has chaired Q&A events at the Hay Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival and London Screenwriters' Festival, and his platform with Christopher Hampton in the Lyttelton Theatre to celebrate Faber's 75th anniversary was published in Faber Playwrights at the National Theatre. Alistair has written original and adapted screenplays, on spec and to commission; contributed film reviews to Time Out and film book reviews to the Independent on Sunday; and recently completed his first novel, The Vetting Officer. His next nonfiction project is a book of conversations with novelist, screenwriter, playwright and director William Boyd, for Penguin.
Reviews
Alistair Owen's well-judged questions elicit valuable in-depth responses -- Alexander Larman * Observer *
Alistair Owen has done writers a huge service with this book... 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 *
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. Highly readable and full of in-the-trenches advice from masters of their craft -- Stephen Volk, writer of Ghostwatch and The Awakening
Fantastic. Fascinating, invaluable read for authors, screenwriters and film (and TV) buffs, full of great interviews and insights. Absolutely perfect - a book I've needed for years -- John Featherstone, author of Hangman's Got The Blues
Every bit as good as @alistairwriter's Story and Character and his books on Bruce Robinson and Christopher Hampton -- @SabotageFilms on Twitter
Book Information
ISBN 9780857302274
Author Alistair Owen
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Creative Essentials
Publisher Oldcastle Books Ltd
