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Looking for writers who have written adaptations

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SonofRambow

Hello friends,

I am a film student writing an academic research paper on the process of adapting written works (novels, short stories etc.) to screenplays. I am looking for a few writers to answer some general questions about the adaptation process. The answers would be used as primary research for my paper. The paper is for academic purposes only and is not being published in any way. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I hope someone can help!

-Riley, aka SonofRambow
 
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I've adapted one short story to screenplay last year. It was much more difficult than I expected and went through far more drafts than my other films, even though I had the story lain out in front of me. The issue was that the story was first person, and it was much more difficult an anticipated to put across the main characters point of view without actually having a first person narration (which I did not do and didn't want to go near either).

The other problem is that when you read a dialogue in your head in a story you don't often wuestion how realistic their words are, but when said aloud in the actual situation it's often a bit different, so almost all the lines in the film were different to the book. I also (with the authors permission) had to alter the ending slightly to add a bit more depth to the story.

As a beginner (maybe to intermediate, I'm not sure) screenplay writer, I have found it easier to write from scratch rather than be confined to the short story, especially one in first person. If you wish to see the film here is a link, the short story is of the same name https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-KfMJ_ElP8
 
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MileCreations, the film is cool, I especially like the way the chess scenes are cut together. Would you be willing to answer a few questions about adaptations over e-mail? I think you hit on a key point in your response about the difficulty of putting across the point of view without narration.
 
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The biggest problem that I've found is that you have to figure out how to take all of the exposition from the book and convey the key information visually. The story in a book takes place in your mind, the story in a movie happens on the screen. In film-making, if you can't see it or hear it, you don't feel it.
 
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SonofRambow said:
MileCreations, the film is cool, I especially like the way the chess scenes are cut together. Would you be willing to answer a few questions about adaptations over e-mail? I think you hit on a key point in your response about the difficulty of putting across the point of view without narration.
Click to expand...

Yeah sure, find my email on the info/about section Facebook.com/milecreations

I just don't want to paste it straight here.... :)
 
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Hey Riley,

I've written an adaptation as part of a direct-to-DVD Poe anthology. Not sure if that's the vein of what you're looking for, but if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them.
 
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