 Once Catán had decided on the "Postino" project, he visited each of them personally to secure the adaptation rights rather than relying on lawyers.According to Catán's son, he had almost completely formulated the characterisations of the principal singers before he began the actual composition, and the libretto manuscripts contained relatively few revisions.The entirely fictional story of Neruda and his postman is told in both the film and Skármeta's novel.