Adaptations: from novel to Claire's imagined movie to actual film

Watched Jane Eyre – nice treat considering I’ve been guzzling sitcoms and fast-paced Hollywood flicks lately. The pace was steady, the stunts fleeting, tension built on emotional relationships and sexual suspense. I felt seriously creeped by the ghost-story element. I'm glad there were no harped up bets and competitions like in The Silver Linings Playbook which I am yet to determine whether I liked or not. My viewership was seriously marred by having read the book upon which it was based. My problem is that I obsessed about how it would be adapted while I was reading it and the third act was completely re-imagined for the film. I did manage to pick the downplay of the roles of the brother and Danny, as well as the extent of the family’s Eagles obsession. However, I was surprised to see the inclusion of elements I considered superfluous – for instance, the torturous wedding song (originally by Kenny G, not Stevie Wonder) which I mused would have been neat to have seen threaten Pat again in the third act, only to be defeated, perhaps if it was incidentally playing at the dance competition. This might have been another form of substantial proof of Pat’s acknowledgement of the past and ability to move forward.

Reading Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy for book club and have been marvelling at the language and intricacy of the plot. Also, working up a mental sweat keeping track of names, codenames, etc. I decided to accompany my reading with one of its adaptations (that is, cheat), and opted for the 1979 BBC series over the more condensed 2011 film version. A third of the way through the book, I felt swindled that the first episode opened with events I am just starting to read.

I understand adaptations aren’t required to be completely faithful. They are essentially a reproduction or reimagining of an already deemed good (read: marketable) and successful (read: profitable) story. Where details are omitted, blended and condensed in time, the familiar tone of the original story should be conveyed through film’s technical elements. I felt the original story of Jane Eyre through the performances, pacing, music and mise-en-scene and therefore appreciated the adaptation. Even with my expectations of conciseness and Hollywoodisation, The Silver Linings Playbook jammed in and stacked on more than was needed. Another peeve of mine regarding the screenplay was that characters explained their behaviour or the behaviour of others. For instance, the audience is explicitly told why Dad wanted Pat to watch the NFL (making up fathering failures in the past) and why Pat said and asked inappropriate things (can’t filter his thoughts, undiagnosed Bipolar [where exactly is the quintessential depression, by the way?]. These parallels could still be drawn with subtle performance and subtext in the dialogue. Whatever happened to audiences making sense of motivations, wants and needs on their own? Though, I suppose this was somewhat achieved in having Tiffany offer sex to Pat without explaining the direct link to her dead husband’s sex obsession and how her denying it to him was involved in his tragic death.

Pitched Project Hostage to separate groups of family and friends. Confused what to do regarding the logline which received positive feedback from film/literary peers but negative reception from tv-watching-family. All in all, they were valuable experiences. After a short time to reflect, I have managed to construct some subversive scenarios out of suggestions and queries. I’ve got thicker skin than I previously thought, but still should learn to let go of some ideas.

Listened to Scriptcast on scene writing and studied beats and act breaks in Grandma’s House and Arrested Development scripts.  Sat down to write the pilot’s first scene, I realised that I need to properly outline scenes before attempting dialogue – I’m tending to be indulgent setting up the premise, plot and jokes.