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$22.68 ex GST $24.95 inc GST
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A Guide to Adapting Literature to Film
Denise Faithfull with Brian Hannant
Turning a 250-page novel or a two-and-a-half-hour stage play into a 90-minute film means leaving out much of the original and changing most of what’s left. So why does it remain recognisably the same story? What is the slippery essence that transfers, unaltered, from page to screen?
In
Adaptations, Denise Faithfull comprehensively and systematically addresses the thorny issues of choosing your source and type of adaptation, whether a liberal appropriation, a free-flowing intersection, a variation or a faithful translation. She illuminates questions of structure, character, dialogue and visualisation, and includes a checklist for the adaptor. Brian Hannant’s introductory chapter discusses the history of Australian film, the basic principles of filmmaking and screenwriting, and a guide to correct screenplay layout.
Drawing from dozens of Australian films including
Così,
Lantana,
Hotel Sorrento,
The Boys,
Dead Heart,
Death in Brunswick and
Head On,
Adaptations navigates the treacherous waters of the adaptation process, showing us what works … and what doesn’t.
For anyone who’s ever read a novel, seen a play or heard an incredible true story and thought, ‘Now, that would make a great film’,
Adaptations is the ultimate on how to make it happen.
Review
Click here for a review by Nick Sidoryn, Marden Senior College, as published in the SAETA Newsletter, Spring 2007.
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Currency Press | 978-0-86819-792-0 | Sales rights: worldwide | PB
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$20.86 ex GST $22.95 inc GST
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Sue Smith
Bastard Boys
is the story of the fight that stopped the nation—the 1998 battle for Australia's waterfront. More than just a dispute over reform, it became a campaign for the hearts and minds of all Australians. Controversial, all-consuming and combative, it forced people to pick a side and fight for their beliefs. Political thriller, war film, buddy movie, love story and courtroom drama all rolled into one, this is the story of the people behind one of the most significant events in Australia's recent past.
Iconic Australian actors Jack Thompson and Colin Friels lead an outstanding cast that includes: Geoff Morrell, Dan Wyllie, Justine Clarke, Rhys Muldoon and Lucy Bell.
Bastard Boys has been written with the cooperation and participation of all parties to the dispute. It is the first time participants such as former Patrick CEO, Chris Corrigan and ACTU Secretary, Greg Combet have agreed to tell their stories.
Awards
- 2007 QLD Premier's Literary Awards - Television Script
Review
The world of the wharves, the boardrooms and war rooms are places most of us will never visit or understand.
Bastard Boys
takes us there, makes sense and great drama all at once. It’s amazing.
- Ruth Richie,
Sydney Morning Herald
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Currency Press | 978-0-86819-809-5 | Sales rights: worldwide | PB
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$22.68 ex GST $24.95 inc GST
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An Actor's Life
Antony Sher
A remarkably candid autobiography, utterly involving and often startlingly revelatory,
Beside Myself is an inspiration to young actors and a treat for seasoned theatregoers.
'I wish I'd read this book when I was starting out. Not only is Antony Sher one of the all-time greats of classical theatre, he also manages to be a writer of enormous skill and insight' David Tennant
Actor, author, artist Antony Sher grew up in the Old South Africa with a profound sense of being an outsider. Small, Jewish and secretly gay, he found refuge in theatre and escaped to London aged just nineteen.
In
Beside Myself, Sher takes us to the heart of what it is to be an actor today, describing the journeys he undertakes in order to inhabit the roles for which he is famous - including
The History Man (his TV breakthrough), Macbeth, Tamburlaine, Cyrano, Stanley Spencer and Richard III.
This edition, published to mark the author's 60th birthday, includes a new foreword and epilogue.
Review
The most unsparingly honest actor's autobiography I have ever read - Michael Billington,
Guardian
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Nick Hern Books, UK | 978-1-84842-035-9 | Sales rights: Australia/NZ | PB
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$22.68 ex GST $24.95 inc GST
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Ian David
Set in Sydney in the 1970s and 1980s, this multi-award winning television drama centres on the notorious friendship between drug dealer and robber Arthur Stanley ‘Neddy’ Smith and Detective Sergeant Roger ‘The Dodger’ Rogerson. There’s a pot of gold involved but it doesn’t come easily or cheaply. This is a powerful and frightening story about police corruption and Sydney’s underworld.
Review
Australia’s best ever drama ... riveting viewing
- Jenny Tabakoff,
Sydney Morning Herald
Awards
- NSW Premier’s Literary Award - Best Screenplay
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Currency Press | 978-0-86819-630-5 | Sales rights: worldwide | PB
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$20.86 ex GST $22.95 inc GST
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Stephen Sewell
Based on the controversial stage play by Gordon Graham,
The Boys is an unflinching analysis of the violence that lurks in Australian society.
Returning home from prison, Brett sets about re-establishing control over his wayward brothers as he searches for an act the three brothers can participate in jointly, and thereby violate norms.
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Currency Press | 978-0-86819-569-8 | Sales rights: worldwide | PB
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$19.95 ex GST $21.95 inc GST
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John Fraser
John Fraser starred in films such as
Repulsion, El Cid
and
Tunes of Glory, and was nominated for a British Academy Award as
Best Actor for his performance, opposite Peter Finch, as Bosie in
The Trials
of Oscar Wilde. He has written fiction, non-fiction and drama. This
paperback edition includes a previously unpublished chapter.
Review
Genuinely moving...a deliciously gossipy read,
but much, much more than a set of anecdotes about famous people. What
distinguishes
Close Up from a hundred other celebrity memoirs is the skill of
the writing, and also the sense that a real warm heart lies at the
centre. -
The Mail on Sunday
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Oberon Books | 978-1-84002-504-0 | Sales rights: Australia/NZ | PB
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$22.68 ex GST $24.95 inc GST
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Judy Carter
This is the definitive guide to making a career out of
making people laugh. If you’ve got a sense of humour, you can learn to make a
career out of comedy, says Judy Carter. Whether it’s creating a killer stand-up
act, writing a spec sitcom, or providing jokes for radio or one-liners for
greeting cards, Carter provides step-by-step instructions in
The Comedy
Bible. She helps readers first determine which genre of comedy writing or
performing suits them best and then directs them in developing, refining, and selling
their work.
Review
The Comedy Bible is proof God does have a sense of
humour... Until comedians can enrol in a comedy 101 humourversity course at the
school of hard knock-knocks, this is the next best thing. - Wil Anderson
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Currency Press | 978-0-86819-741-8 | Sales rights: Australia/NZ | PB
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$35.41 ex GST $38.95 inc GST
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'This Effing Lady'
Rose Collis
A larger-than-life character that towered over the London stage for half a century, Coral Browne was remarkable for her mesmerising character performances, her glamour, her liberated attitude to sex and the quickness of her often-savage wit.
Arriving from ‘awful Australia’ as a 21-year old she quickly became the talk of wartime London—performing as bombs rained around her. Prodigiously talented and highly unconventional for the age she lived in, she forged a reputation as a brilliant comic and classical actress, though she would later perform in the premiere of Joe Orton’s
What the Butler Saw in her underwear, alongside Ralph Richardson. She is also remembered for a series of iconic performances in films such as
Auntie Mame,
The Killing of Sister George,
Theatre of Blood,
The Legend of Lyla Clare,
The Ruling Class, and in television dramas such as Dennis Potter’s
Dreamchild, and Alan Bennett’s
An Englishman Abroad, in which she played herself.
Almost as famous for her bawdy wit and unashamed appetite for men (and women), her famous lovers included Maurice Chevalier, Cecil Beaton and Paul Robeson, though she played confidante to many more, including Alec Guinness, John Schlesinger, Alan Bates, and, remarkably, the traitor Guy Burgess. Later in life she became ‘Mrs Vincent Price’, one half of one of the most passionate and remarkable celebrity marriages of all time.
'This Effing Lady' is Rose Collis' humane and funny account of a remarkable and truly original star.
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Oberon Books | 978-1-84002-764-8 | Sales rights: Australia/NZ | HB
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$18.14 ex GST $19.95 inc GST
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Marcus Gillezeau
It’s about realising your creative vision with the right technology.
Written specifically for the Australian industry,
Hands On is an essential tool that will empower filmmakers to understand the latest technologies while saving time and money throughout the production cycle. From choosing equipment, to deciding on a screen ratio, through to delivering projects on the web, TV and at the cinema,
Hands On will help emerging and established practitioners make informed production decisions. Features over one hundred illustrations and charts as well as a comprehensive glossary and lists of websites and contact details for government bodies and service providers.
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Currency Press | 978-0-86819-682-4 | Sales rights: Australia/NZ | PB
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$32.68 ex GST $35.95 inc GST
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Michael Kustow
In Search of Jerusalem is a personal testament of everything the outspoken writer, film, television and theatre producer Michael Kustow stands for—in a year in which he also finds himself battling cancer. A defiant cultural activist facing mortal danger, he embarks on a year-long spiritual journey to revisit the places, people and ideas that have formed his beliefs.
Starting in India, before his illness is properly diagnosed, he finally reaches Israel, Palestine and the city of Jerusalem, symbol of both peace and conflict. He antagonises fellow Jews by criticising Israel's occupation of Palestine.
In correspondence with prominent Jewish writers, including Joshua Sobol and Arnold Wesker, he defends his dissident position, from a unique cultural platform as a leader in the arts in Britain.
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Oberon Books | 978-1-84002-872-0 | Sales rights: Australia/NZ | HB
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