A Perfect Day for a book into a Film Script

Rain has pelted our area since early morning.  Instead of going to my Writer's Group I am sitting at my desk, staring at the waterlogged trees which are bowing their branches since they are too full of moisture to stand erect. My dogs have decided that it is a great day to sleep, and for once, they are not begging to go on a five mile hike.  I do feel guilty about not going to the Group, but I think I will have a more productive day writing here at home than listening to those authors brave enough to venture out in this damp, dank, dull day (I love alliteration).

Changing a book into a movie script has been a revelation.  Now I know why the book is usually better than the film.  Dialogue is all important and metaphors, alliteration, and symbols are employed  in a visual manner which is up to the director, cinematographer and actors to interpret..  When an author writes a book, he or she has full control of the media,  The creative process is limited to the author and his or her readers  which still allows for considerable variations in communication.   In fact, when I gave the last presentation of my book I asked the group what they thought the theme of the novel was, and I received 7 different answers, none of which was the one I had selected.  All of the 7, however, were equally valid.  But the communication was still between the readers and me.  So many different variables are involved in film.  For instance,  I read somewhere that Casablanca was originally going to star Ronald Reagan and Ann Baxter, and Shirley Temple and  WC. Fields were goiing to play Dorothy and the Wfacebook.com, twitter.comizard in The Wizard of Oz. If these actors had appeared in these films the movies would have been quite different, even though the scripts would be the same.  Thank goodness,  The Great Gatsby will always be the same book no matter who plays the various roles.

So have a good day everyone while I try to change my novel into a film script.  At least, until it stops raining and the dogs (who really are my muses) want to go for a walk in the rain forest.