SHOOTING PEOPLE - UK SCREENWRITERS NETWORK
Supported by The Script Factory

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Action

From: Mary Lou
Subject: Action Writing

The following websites might give you the answers.

Writing action adventure: how much action description is too much and how much is not enough... www.screenwritersutopia.com/actionwriter/action.2html

Archives from www.raindance.co.uk/filmmakers.html - sixteen pointers to a better description Feb 2000

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Actors

From: Kate Duggan
Subject: Agent details

Hi guys, for anyone who wants to send their script to an actor to read, the Spotlight website lists most actors' agent details:

http://www.spotlightcd.com/spotweb/records.asp

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From: Mark D. Young
Subject: Agent details

The UK actors directory is called Spotlight, is published annually, contains a photograph and contact details for actors registered with an agent and often a brief CV. A library or media resource centre such as a film/video workshop are likely to have copies: it's too expensive to buy.

Finding a way of contacting the actor direct may involve a little more research though if your choice is a celeb you can probably obtain their home address using one of the celebrity databases advertised in the back of Empire, Premiere, Total Film, etc. This has the advantage of getting a quick decision from the horses mouth, or can run the risk of pissing off your selected choice for not pursuing the appropriate channels. It depends on the actor and quality of the script.

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From: Jevon
Subject: Agent details

Spotlight can be contacted on 020 7437 7631... ask for an actor and they'll give you their agent's details (maximum of three actors per call).

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From: Jon S Green

Subject: Who do I send the script to?

...he asked, with his prepositions dangling.

On Tuesday, a poster to this list wanted to know how to get a script to James Earl Jones. I've mailed privately to answer in detail, but in case anyone else feels like tracking down an artist or director's rep, one useful Web link is:

http://www.whorepresents.com

Just about all well-known artists are covered in this cross-reference between artists and agents (or management companies). There's a reverse reference too, so you can find out which artists are repped by a given agent. Agents' addresses and phone numbers are included in the listings.

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Adaptations

From: Andrew Staniland
Subject: Adaptations/Originals

"Now I have a question (in the hope of launching a new thread finally): why do you think so many films are based on books these days? I've always favoured original work over adapted, personally..."

Investment reason: FEAR. Fear makes people behave irrationally & seek familiarity. So they'll go for the tried & tested story that people know & love. Never mind that it's only tried & tested as a novel & probably won't work as a film... Same thing making copies of last year's big hit - an easy sell to investors. Never mind that the hit was a hit because it was new & fresh & the copies always flop...

Artistic reason: we've got a post-modern culture of imitation. And imitation is quick & clever, imagination takes time to grow...

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From: Jeremy Drysdale
Subject: Adaptations

I've just finished an adaptation for a US studio, and I wouldn't mind contributing to the debate...

No, I don't think adaptations are evil (but then I've got bills to pay!), but I do think that they're hard. When you're trying to read someone else's mind in order to properly gauge context, subtext and rationale, in the full knowledge that not only is the original writer still around to make their point of view known, but that the people you're writing about (who were actually there...) are going to read it as well, then it gets tricky. They're not your characters, they don't really do the things you want them to do, and you don't love them like they're your own. And the story - well, that just doesn't obey the correct laws of structure at all!

So I would say that adaptations are no more 'evil' than original scripts, but they're probably harder to get right. And once you're done, you don't get the credit that you might, because it was someone else's work first...

It DOES pay the bills, though.

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From: Charlie Harris, www.screen-lab.co.uk
Subject: Re: Are All Adaptations Evil?

It's notable that all but two of Shakespeare's plays were adaptations of one kind or another. The two originals were Midsummer's Nights Dream and Tempest. I wouldn't say they're noticeably superior to the rest! Of course, he was very good at knowing how to mould the stories he found to the dramatic form for best effect.

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From: Mikael Colville-Andersen
Subject: Thoughts on adaptations

Richard Price, the screenwriter behind Ransom, Color of Money, Clockers, Sea of Love, Shaft, etc, has commented on adaptations:

"A movie is not a book. If the source material is a book, you cannot be too respectful of the book. All you owe to the book is the spirit. Everything else-- just tear that motherfucker apart."

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From: Charlie Harris, www.screen-lab.co.uk
Subject: Adaptations/Originals

Anyway, I wouldn't be quite so down on adaptations, which include a fair number of some of the greatest films in cinema history (in my book anyway) such as Psycho, The Birds, Death in Venice, Ran, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, His Girl Friday, Jean de Florette, 2001, Clockwork Orange.... etc, etc etc

I think there is a distinction between originality of treatment and originality of story.

I also don't think adapting is necessarily an easier option (hence my seminar this coming Saturday).

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From: Paul Moyse
Subject: Adaptations

Try reading "Which Lie did I tell - More adventures in the screen trade." by William Goldman. He talks extensively about the do's, the don'ts, the whys, why nots etc. of adapting to the screen. (He should know a bit about it having adapted Misery and Princess Bride (his own book)). The rest of the book is a good read as well.

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From: Charlie Harris, www.screen-lab.co.uk
Subject: Adapting for the screen

"Does anyone know of any books/articles/sites/whatever, to recommend?"

Very good book by Linda Seger: The Art of Adaptation. Also a fascinating book on screen versions of Graham Greene novels called "Graham Greene: The Films of his Fiction" by Gene D Phillips.

"What do you do if you want to adapt a book? How many liberties can you take with changing the dialogue/plot/characters?"

Depends on how much loved the book is. If nobody's ever heard of it, all you have to deal with is the author and his family and friends! On the other hand, books are not cinema and you will have to change a great deal to make even the most cinematic book work on the screen.

My guideline is to be sure what the essence is that attracted you in the first place and hold onto that. If other things have to change to preserve that essence while making it cinema, then you have to judge each time how important those elements are to the heart of what you're trying to do.

Once again, the more devoted fans a book has, the more difficulty you're going to have doing things like combining characters and changing dialogue that may be necessary.

"Do you need to get permission before you start, and who from?"

Yes. From whoever owns the film rights. Ask the publishers. Unless the author has been dead more than 70 years.

"What if the author is long dead, i.e. adapting classics?"

Then there's no legal barrier but it's back to the first answer. Are you going to get lynched for giving Hamlet a happy ending? Or cutting out the ghost? If you're really worried and want to make big big changes, then take it a long way away from the original, eg: take Jane Austen's "Emma", set it in modern LA and call it "Clueless".

By the way, I run a regular seminar in Adaptation for Screenwriters Workshop in London.

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