Sometimes I wonder. Is it because it’s ‘difficult’ to transfer the crux of the stories to the screen or is it simply that it is difficult to do it in a cookie cutter fashion? An adaptation should be more than just turning the book into a script it should also be about reforming the narrative and diesis into a shape that is suitable for the cinematic form, to approach the work in a new way. If i was ever going to adapt a novel i’d written into a screenplay that is definately the approach i’d take. It’s definately something i’ve pondered.

Still, perhaps i am expecting too much from such a generally artistically bankrupt institution as Hollywood.

Obviously, the arguement is more complicated than that. The hollywood system has created many a fine piece of art masquarading as simple entertainment. But, for the sake of this arguement, let’s say it’s not.

I think television scifi has developed a little better recently but even the best of recent years, and I’m going to go with Battlestar Galactica for its poignant representation of the human condition, was a remake of a show from the 70s. Even the latest series of torchwood, which definately had its moments, only came about off the back of another series, hit a stride two series into the show and was hacked to death by the BBC for good or ill.

I guess it comes down to the geek stigma of scifi as it exists in the collective mind of popular culture. People can’t help but think of it in terms of sad little virgin nerds quoting star trek at each other on forums. Of course, this is a poor stereotype that only represents geek culture in the most marginal of senses but as an archetypal image it is writ large in the collective unconscious.

Which, frankly, sucks.

Just a quick comment to clarify: you read the programme right – we are keeping Writers’ Lab separate on the Tuesday evening, and I expect it to be a similar length to our sharing in July. The Monday night will be dedicated to your Fela play, supported by live, specially programmed African music. There will be the opportunity to present more than a twenty minute extract, but the whole things is about what you will find useful, so keep talking to Kate.

As for marriage, I’m always surprised by the way expectations change over time. My marriage seems a very different thing to how it started. I suppose it’s inevitable that both parties will change and you have to find your own way to come to terms with that. It’s impossible to foresee what will happen and how people will change, so I think the only way to be happy is to embrace all the changes that have happened, as well as those that will. The negotiations in a marriage contract never end!

Really looking forward to reading draft two!