Principles of Adaptation for Film and Television / Edition 1

by Ben Brady

Overview

From All Quiet on the Western Front, the Academy Award-winning "Best Picture" of 1929-1930, to Dances with Wolves, the 1991 winner, many of Hollywood's most popular and enduring movies have been screen adaptations of written work, including novels, stories, and plays. In this practical, hands-on guide, veteran TV and screenwriter Ben Brady unlocks the secrets of the adaptation process, showing aspiring writers and writing teachers how to turn any kind of narrative material into workable, salable screenplays for film and television.

Step by step, Brady guides novice screenwriters to the completion of a professional screenplay. He begins with an incisive discussion of how to evaluate a written work's potential as a screenplay. Then he discusses each step of the writing process, showing how to identify the plot and premise of the play, develop character, treatment, and dialogue, and handle camera language and format. Brady illustrates each of these points by developing and writing a complete screenplay of the novel Claire Serrat within the text.

With these tools, beginning screenwriters can draw on the rich resources of words in print to create exciting screenplays for film and television. Written in vivid, entertaining prose, the book will be equally useful in the classroom or at the kitchen table, wherever enterprising writers ply their craft.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780292708075
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	03/01/1994
Pages:	236
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

A veteran writer and producer of radio and TV, including "Perry Mason," "The Johnny Carson Show," and "Outer Limits," Ben Brady created and headed the screenwriting department at California State University at Northridge for eighteen years.

Table of Contents

• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part 1. Principles of Adaptation for Film and Television
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. The Transition
  • 3. Plot
  • 4. The Premise
  • 5. Character
  • 6. The Nature of a Treatment
  • 7. The Treatment
  • 8. Dialogue
  • 9. Camera Language and Screenplay Format
• Part 2. The Screenplay Claire Serrat
• Part 3. Questioning Your Adaptation
• Glossary of Film Terms
• Index

Editorial Reviews

Veteran television producer and screenwriter Brady explains to aspiring writers and writing teachers the ropes of turning any narrative into a salable movie or television script. The chapters include the transition, plot, character, dialogue, camera language, format, and assessing the adaptation. He also includes a 130-page screenplay. Paper edition (unseen), $13.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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