From concept to finished draft-a nuts-and-bolts approach to adaptations
Aspiring and established screenwriters everywhere, take note! This down-to-earth guide is the first to clearly articulate the craft of adaptation. Drawing on his own experience and on fourteen years of teaching, screenwriter Richard Krevolin presents his proven five-step process for adapting anything-from novels and short stories to newspaper articles and poems-into a screenplay. Used by thousands of novelists, playwrights, poets, and journalists around the country, this can't-miss process features practical advice on how to break down a story into its essential components, as well as utilizes case studies of successful adaptations. Krevolin also provides an insider's view of working and surviving within the Hollywood system-covering the legal issues, interviewing studio insiders on what they are looking for, and offering tips from established screenwriters who specialize in adaptations.
* Outlines a series of stages that help you structure your story to fit the needs of a 120-page screenplay
* Explains how to adapt anything for Hollywood, from a single sentence story idea all the way to a thousand-page novel
* Advises on the tricky subject of just how faithful your adaptation should be
* Features helpful hints from Hollywood bigwigs-award-winning television writer Larry Brody; screenwriter and script reader Henry Jones; screenwriter and author Robin Russin; screenwriter and author Simon Rose; and more
Foreword by Jeff Arch. Preface.
Acknowledgments.
1. A Short History of Adaptations.
2. Professor K.'s Five-Step Adaptation Process.
3. Legal Issues of Adaptations.
4. How Faithful Should Adaptations Be?
Case Study: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
5. Mining the Vein and Extracting the Gold.
Case Study: The Shawshank Redemption.
6. Truth, Lies, and Alternative Structures.
Case Study: Rashomon.
7. Compiling Characters, Cherry-Picking, and Captain Phenomenal.
Case Study: The Patriot.
8. Reinterpreting and Reinventing the Storytelling Wheel.
Case Study: O Brother, Where Art Thou?
9. I Know It Really Happened That Way, But . . . .
Case Study: Madison.
10. Learning by Writing Across the Genres.
Case Study: Glengarry Glen Ross.
11. Good, Evil, and the Eternal Combat Over Adaptations.
Case Study: X-Men.
12. Smart Choices with Source Material.
Case Study: Shiloh.
13. Hints from and Interviews with Hollywood Bigwigs.
Bibliography.
Filmography.