Adaptation for Screenwriters

Introduction

PART 1 - THEORY
1. Different Languages
Approaching Adaptation
Issues of Form
Channels of Communication
Case Study: Enduring Love, High-Rise
Exercises

2. The Challenge of Translation
Being Faithful
Finding the Film in the Book
Dramatizing the Page
Case Study: Kiss of the Spider Woman, Fight Club
Exercises

PART 2 - ADAPTATION
3. Narrative Re/Construction
Story and Structure
Culture and Context
Adapting to Genre
Case Study: The English Patient, No Country for Old Men
Exercises

4. Faithful Invention
Acts of Interpretation
Reframing - Prologues and Codas
Expanding the Short Story
Case Study: Don't Look Now, The Shawshank Redemption
Exercises

5. The Human Subject
Character - Surface and Depth
Screening Psychology
Capturing Conflict
Case Study: The Great Gatsby, The Talented Mr Ripley
Exercises

PART 3 - APPROPRIATION
6. Texts Unbound
Intertextuality
Customizing the Classic Text
Weaving Fact and Fiction
Case Study: Regeneration, The Hours
Exercises

7. Textual Play
Hypotextuality
Twelve Strategies
Fan Film
Case Study: Dr Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes
Exercises

8. Other Forms
Stage to Screen
The Graphic Novel
Video Game to Film
Case Study: Alan Moore, Alien vs. Predator
Exercises

PART 4 - PRACTICE
9. Process
Assessing the Material
Centre and Circumference
Concept, Treatment and Pitch
Case Study: Original Material
Exercises

10. The Script
First Draft - Dialogue
Redrafting - From Scene to Scene
Final Draft - Self-Reflection
Case Study: Original Material
Exercises