How do you adapt an 800-page novel for TV?

How did the novel The Luminaries become a Starz TV series? It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure. But being difficult isn’t the same as being impossible, and after “seven years, 300 drafts and plenty of crying, here it is.”

Author Eleanor Catton, left, and director Claire McCarthy on the set of “The Luminaries.”

by Meredith Blake

“The Luminaries” seemed to have everything Hollywood wants in a book.

A commercial and critical hit when it was published in 2013, Eleanor Catton’s immersive novel was set on the rugged southwest coast of New Zealand during its 1860s gold rush. A tale of fate and fortune on the antipodean frontier, it had all the makings of a great screen adventure: rowdy saloons and smoke-filled opium dens, devious blackmail schemes and treacherous ocean voyages, ruthless villains and star-crossed lovers. read article

Get in tune with your writing goals

Nathan Bransford, TVWriter™’s favorite publishing know-it-all, has a few words for us about about setting and attaining our writing goals.

by Nathan Bransford

It’s starting to feel more like 2021 with every passing day, and I’m still in a goal-setting frame of mind as I think about what’s next for my creative life and business. read article

Larry Brody’s TV Writing Tips & Tricks #12

Conflict!
by Larry Brody

In real life human beings strive to attain warm, comforting relationships with spouses, children and friends. We work hard to find ways to support each other emotionally.

However, I learned early on in my career that having your characters respond to each other this way on film is at best boring and at worst injurious to your script (and the ratings of your show). read article

Adult Swim’s ‘Primal’ is an animation class for the ages…

…And it isn’t even an animation class at all. It’s a new series that will teach you everything you need to know about the form, keeping you riveted all the while.

Check out this trailer. read article

Script Reader Pro’s “Ultimate Guide to Script Coverage”

If you’re a new TV or film writer, you’ve either just learned or are about to learn that at this point in your life, for all practical purposes your future is dependent on how impressed professional script readers are when they read your work. Which means, “Hey kids, this tutorial is for you!”

via Script Reader Pro

You’ve finally written the words “fade out” on your script, but how do you know if it’s good enough to send out into the industry? read article