Turning a Novel into a Script


It’s no easy feat working with a scriptwriter, no matter how talented that person is, to turn your novel into a script. I’m finding that the young scriptwriter I chose from Craig’s List http://www.craigslist.com/ has some great ideas on how to expand the sub-plot of Deadly Choices (http://www.jenniespallone.com/). Yet his dialogue is stilted because he is not from Chicago and finds it challenging to relate to the mannerisms and culture I describe.

How does one describe a city’s vitality/? Mayor Daley’s goal to provide safe passage to school for kids living in crime invested areas? To rid the city of gangs through http://www.chicagoneighborhoodwatchgroups.org/ Neighborhood Watch Groups in which communities and police share information. To educate all children by holding teachers acountable. To crack down on corrupt cops. To acknowledge paramedics, firefighters, police officers, http://www.chicagopolicedepartment.org/  and good samaritans who do so much for our city. To beautify our parks and lakefront, and offer terrific museums, http://www.chicagomuseums.org/, the Art Institute, http://www.artinstitute.com/ dance and theatre performances http://www.chicagotheatre.com/ , and musical events. To provide a multi-cultural setting in which people of all different races and religions comfortably co-exist. http://www.chicagolakefront.org/

Then there’s the sleazy side of Chicago, with its homeless folks, drug addicts, alcoholics, gang members, killings, and corrupt politicians. Parts of the city where cops have no compunction about stopping a car because its driver or passengers are “driving while Black.” How do you explain the dichotomy to someone from a more homogenous environment? 

I suspect that the only way my scriptwriter will learn our ways is the hard way, through trial and error. That’s the breaks. For Chicago, authenticity is the only game in town….

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