Don’t Legislate the Camera: Jesse Andrews on Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Jesse Andrews discusses adapting his own novel for the big screen, facilitating the director’s vision, and entering an inhuman state.
By Carlos Aguilar. Stepping out of the writer’s solitude into the unavoidably collaborative nature of the filmmaking process, Pittsburgh native Jesse Andrews discovered that sharing a story as a film rather than a novel has its own set of benefits and pleasures. As a young aspiring writer Andrews recalls his work had an overly serious […]
“Respect what People Love.” David Nicholls on Far from the Madding Crowd
David Nicholls discusses the challenges of adapting Far From the Madding Crowd for modern audiences.
By Carlos Aguilar. Fascinated by the lavish and intricate characters of Victorian novels, British author and screenwriter David Nicholls has been successful at adapting several of them for the screen both in TV and film. In contrast, however, his books deal with contemporary narratives, which sometimes differ in tone from the classics he loves. Particularly […]
Powerful Prose
John Ridley on 12 Years a Slave and the Power of Cinema
by Carlos Aguilar With a career that covers almost every written creative medium, John Ridley’s latest screenplay is perhaps the most important project of his career. Being an African American man himself the process of translating Solomon Northup’s account of his experience as a slave proved to be a particularly emotionally powerful experience. As a […]
Breaking In: Justin Haythe
On retaining an authentic voice in your writing, collaboration and protecting your integrity
by Carlos Aguilar British-born writer Justin Haythe achieved success with his debut novel The Honeymoon back in 2004—the same year his first screenplay was produced: The Clearing (co-written with the director Pieter Jan Brugge). This fine start brought opportunities including the adaptation of Richard Yates novel Revolutionary Road that would earn Haythe a BAFTA nomination […]
Breaking Into Comics Right Now
Comic Con panel suggests there is no room for a Plan “B”
by Carlos Aguilar Somewhere in between the celebrity arrivals and the fan-pleasing revelations from the studios at Hall H of the San Diego Convention Center it was more than easy, even expected, to dismiss the prime medium the event was dedicated to, and to which all other forms of audiovisual entertainment had been added over […]
