Melissa Rosenberg: On writing sctripts for movies and TV, and New Moon

Crave Online recently talked with scriptwriter Melissa Rosenberg, who adapt the Twilight films to movies. Melissa is a veteran scriptwriter who also writes for TV shows Dexter. Here is an excerpt for her interview:

Crave Online: When you heard they wanted you to adapt the biggest franchise since Harry Potter, what were your thoughts?

Melissa Rosenberg: Well, it wasn’t the biggest franchise since Harry Potter at the time. Actually, it’s probably more like I didn’t know. That’s probably what saved me from freaking out too much. I really was unaware of the books until the studio brought them to me. Of course once I got a hold of it I read it all in one sitting and was delighted to climb onboard.

Crave Online: Did you know Chris Weitz was directing when you started on New Moon?

Melissa Rosenberg: No, I had actually finished a script before he came on board. Then I did several more drafts for him once he was on.

Crave Online: How did the script change?

Melissa Rosenberg: He had several specific ideas like specifically how he wanted to open the movie visually. Also there was a lot of condensing to do. I had about a 123 page script so we had to find ways to take it down. He also had a very specific idea for the end of it which I had not included, so I don’t want to be the spoiler.

Crave Online: But for fans of the book who know the ending, how would you have done it without that?

Melissa Rosenberg: Well, without spoiling I can’t really talk about details.

Crave Online: By comparison, how long was your Twilight script and how long did New Moon end up being?

Melissa Rosenberg: The Twilight script was shorter. We were probably at 111, 108 pages, somewhere in there. That was, in writing the Twilight script I had about five weeks to write that. I’d taken about a month to write the outline and then it was slam into a script and write it down fast because the writer’s strike was looming. That was a really intense collaboration with Catherine Hardwicke. It was just working 24/7, not sleeping, really just slamming it out there. Not my favorite way to work but I was surprised that we actually ended up with something that we could shoot.

To read the rest of her interview, click on the link above.

jediyoda