Producers and audiences are hungrier than ever for stories, and a lot of those stories begin life as a book—but how exactly do you transfer a story from the page to the screen? Do adaptations use the same creative gears as original screenplays? Does a true story give a project more weight than a fictional one? Is it helpful to have the original author’s input on the script? And how much pressure is the screenwriter under, knowing they won’t be able to please everyone with the finished product? Alistair Owen puts all these questions and many more to some of the top names in screenwriting, including Hossein Amini ( ), Jeremy Brock ( ), Moira Buffini ( ), Lucinda Coxon ( ), Andrew Davies ( ), Christopher Hampton ( ), David Hare ( ), Olivia Hetreed ( ), Nick Hornby ( ), Deborah Moggach ( ), David Nicholls ( ) and Sarah Phelps ( ). Exploring fiction and nonfiction projects, contemporary and classic books, films and TV series, this book reveals the challenges and pleasures of reimagining stories for cinema and television, and provides a frank and fascinating masterclass with the writers who have done it—and have the awards and acclaim to show for it.