by Alexis Krasilovsky Routledge
262 pages
Paperback: 9781138949188
pub: 2017-10-02
Description
Award-Winning Finalist in the "Performing Arts: Film, Theater, Dance, Music" category of the 2018 International Book Awards. A vast majority of Academy Award-winning Best Pictures, television movies of the week, and mini-series are adaptations, watched by millions of people globally.
Great Adaptations: Screenwriting and Global Storytelling examines the technical methods of adapting novels, short stories, plays, life stories, magazine articles, blogs, comic books, graphic novels and videogames from one medium to another, focusing on the screenplay. Written in a clear and succinct style, perfect for intermediate and advanced screenwriting students,
Great Adaptations explores topics essential to fully appreciating the creative, historical and sociological aspects of the adaptation process. It also provides up-to-date, practical advice on the legalities of acquiring rights and optioning and selling adaptations, and is inclusive of a diverse variety of perspectives that will inspire and challenge students and screenwriters alike. Please follow the link below to a short excerpt from an interview with Carole Dean about
Great Adaptations:
https://fromtheheartproductions.com/getting-creative-when-creating-great-adaptations/
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
PART I INTRODUCING ADAPTATION
1 Creative Issues
2 Career Issues
3 The Ethics and Aesthetics of Adaptation
PART II APPLYING SCREENPLAY PRINCIPLES TO ADAPTATION
4 Plot
5 Setting
7 Dialogue
8 Structure: Heroes and Heroines – Where Are We Going?
PART III A SURVIVAL GUIDE TO ADAPTATION
9 The Process
PART IV RENEWING THE SPIRIT IN MYTHS AND FAIRY TALES
10 Fairy Tale Factors: From Spindle to Kindle
11 The Beasts: From Cocteau to Cable
PART V GLOBAL STORYTELLING REVISITED
12 Stories without Borders
13 Regional vs. International Perspectives
PART VI MODERN PERSPECTIVES ON ROMANCE
14 Love and Romance Adaptations
PART VII BRINGING UP THE CLASSICS
15 From Ancient Greece to Hollywood and Nollywood
16 Chunhyang, Orpheus and Other Myths
17 Keeping It Literary in China PART
VIII EMBRACING AND RETHINKING STRUCTURE
18 Timing the Times
19 Alternative Focus Topics for the Story of Malcolm X
PART IX CENSORSHIP
20 Retelling, Limited
PART X FUTURE ADAPTATIONS
21 Future Adaptations Selected Bibliography Index
Reviews
"Great Adaptations: Screenwriting and Global Storytelling, by Alexis Krasilovsky, is a brilliant exploration of the genesis of some of the most potent ideas and stories from around the globe that have influenced countless film and television narratives – past and present. It’s inspirational and motivates the screenwriter to ideate on new narrative avenues that can explore the myths, legends, fables, fine ideas and literature that have fascinated mankind since the beginning of time. Krasilovsky explores global influences that have shaped the "male" story and the "female" story, emphasizes the importance of setting, time and place, and includes a multitude of supporting examples. This book must be included in every academic study on Adaptation and is a "must have" in every screenwriter’s toolbox." —Jule Selbo, Screenwriter, Author of Screenplay: Building Story through Character and Film Genre for the Screenwriter; Co-editor of Women Screenwriters, An International Guide. "Krasilovsky’s book provides a motherlode of broad-ranging insights into the art of adaptation, illuminating an essential truth about the sea of stories in which we all swim. It’s a book every screenwriter should read." —Robin Swicord, Writer/Director, Wakefield; Screenwriter, Matilda, Little Women, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
About the Author
Los Angeles, California, USA
Learn more about Alexis Krasilovsky >>
Alexis Krasilovsky is professor of Screenwriting and Media Theory and Criticism at California State University Northridge, teaching courses in Screenplay Adaptation and Film as Literature. Krasilovsky is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West, and was the writer/director of the award-winning global documentaries
Women Behind the Camera (2007) and
Let Them Eat Cake (2014). She is also the author of
Women Behind the Camera: Conversations with Camerawomen (1997), and co-author of
Shooting Women: Behind the Camera, Around the World (2015). Krasilovsky’s narrative film,
Blood (1976), was reviewed in the Los Angeles Times as "in its stream-of-consciousness way, more powerful than Martin Scorsese’s
Taxi Driver." Visit Alexis Krasilovsky’s website at
www.alexiskrasilovsky.comOrder your copy of the book Great Adaptations: Screenwriting and Global Storytelling, 1st Edition, at the Student Filmmakers online store today!
