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Adaptation for Screenwriters
by Robert Edgar and John Marland
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Book Presentation:
Develop the critical and creative skills to 'translate' a story from page to screen with this step-by-step guide to the process of screen adaptation you'll learn to:
- interrogate a novel or short story to release its 'inner film'
- convert fictional prose into visual drama
- overcome the obstacles presented by different media 'languages'
- approach key strategic decisions - both technical and interpretive
- draft and re-draft your plot, characters and dialogue
- professionally format and submit your finished script
In addition to examples taken from 'literary classics', contemporary novels, genre fiction, short stories, and biographical material, Marland and Edgar embrace the wider phenomenon of re-telling and updating existing stories, such as the 'appropriation' of popular figures, inter-film adaptation (sequels and 'reboots'), and development into other visual forms including graphic fiction and video games.
Whether you are producing a faithful adaptation of Tolstoy's War and Peace, or planning to pair up the crime-fighting duo of Sherlock Holmes and Batman, Adaptation for Screenwriters will be your guide.
About the authors:
Robert Edgar is Professor of Writing and Popular Culture in the York Centre for Writing based in the School of Humanities at York St John University, UK. He has published on Screenwriting (2009), Directing Fiction (2009), The Language of Film (Bloomsbury, 2010 and 2015), The Music Documentary (2013), The Arena Concert (Bloomsbury, 2015), Music, Memory and Memoir (Bloomsbury, 2019), Adaptation for Scriptwriters (Bloomsbury, 2019), and Venue Stories (2023). He is co-editing the forthcoming Bloomsbury publication, Horrifying Children: Hauntology and the Legacy of Children's Fiction.John Marland is Senior Lecturer in Film and Literature at York St John University, UK, where he has both taught and developed undergraduate courses in literature and film. He has published on Screenwriting (2009), The Language of Film (Bloomsbury, 2010 and 2015), and Adaptation for Scriptwriters (Bloomsbury, 2019). He is co-editing the forthcoming Bloomsbury publication, Horrifying Children: Hauntology and the Legacy of Children's Fiction.
Press Reviews:
"Marland and Edgar make a strong case for adaptation as the fundamental principle of screenwriting, and offer readers a practical framework for achieving it." ―Simon Passmore, Senior Lecturer in Film, Westminster School of Arts, UK
See the publisher website: Bloomsbury Academic
> From the same authors:
The Music Documentary (2013)
Acid Rock to Electropop
Dir. Benjamin Halligan, Robert Edgar and Kirsty Fairclough-Isaacs
Subject: Genre > Documentary
> On a related topic:
Andre Bazin on Adaptation (2022)
Cinema's Literary Imagination
by André Bazin
Subject: Technique > Adaptation
Zola and Film (2005)
Essays in the Art of Adaptation
Dir. Anna Gural-Migdal and Robert Singer
Subject: Technique > Adaptation
Race, Nation and Cultural Power in Film Adaptation (2025)
Subject: Technique > Adaptation
The History of German Literature on Film (2025)
Subject: Technique > Adaptation
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