Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Outlander Starz Series Update from Diana Gabaldon

This was posted on Diana's Facebook page in the wee hours of the AM.  It answers a ton of questions we discussed at MOP Chat last night.  She has nothing to do with the casting or writing of the Outlander series on Starz:

"OK, a slight correction: the production people tell me that the sixteen episodes are all for the _first_ season. (And if all goes well with that...they then might get a second season. This is kind of how television works, you know?)

Many thanks for your delight and enthusiasm! I'm sure with support from you, the show will do just fine.

As for the "oh, they'll RUIN it/oh,I can't stand to watch/oh, it'll be cheap and cheesy/oh, they're sure to mess up the characters/destroy the storyline, etc., etc., etc."...comments, you guys are of course welcome to your opinions, too--but feel free to curb your enthusiasm at any time.

I am NOT writing this show. I am not CASTING this show. I do not have CONTROL over this show. (I do have input, and the production people are very kind about asking my opinion on things. This does not mean they have a legal obligation to take it. )

You know why not? Because I don't want to. I'm a novelist, not a screen-writer. I'm a naturally solitary writer--I don't even have research assistants; my books are mine alone. Screen-writing, by contrast, is an intensely collaborative business.

Scripts go through dozens (literally) of iterations, being worked on by any number of people--then reworked by other people, over and over. A new director (for a show or an episode) can insist on a new direction or changes; an influential actor can ask for changes. Multiple writers means constant--and I do mean constant--collaboration.

I'm not a team player. (Ask anybody. ) AND I have books to write. Were I to be involved in a TV series beyond simple consulting, it would suck my soul, waste my life, prevent me ever writing another book, and be generally a Bad Idea. I'm not doing it.

I would also probably not be good at it, whereas I have a good deal of faith in the very experienced and talented people who _are_ doing it. I saw the pilot script and thought it was an amazingly good adaptation (by marked contrast to various film scripts I've seen over the years ).


So, you know....chill. Cross your fingers, hope for the best, and if you can't stand to watch, wait and read the reviews, and if it looks OK, you can get the DVD. "

I work with a film production company.  And as someone who has collaborated on script revisions, I can tell you that Diana is one thousand percent correct about what screenwriters do.  It's a never-ending process.  I helped my partner revise a script two years ago.  We went start to finish - word for painstaking word - multiple times...then went back over many scenes a zillion times.  And this was all before pre-production.  The script was then changed by producers during production.  Things were tweaked on set.  Now - long after we went into post-production - we are STILL changing scenes...deleting scenes...moving scenes around...adding scenes that had been cut.  Even changing music.  The film is "finished" (it's never really finished)...yet cutting just one word from one sentence can have a massive impact on the feel of a scene.

So basically...as I said last night...we all want to prepare ourselves for the fact that things are NOT going to be exactly as we read them.  

If you are happy this series is being adapted for TV...then sit back, strap in, hold on, and wait for the outcome.  If your expectations aren't unreachable, you might just be pleased.  


If you are NOT happy this series is being adapted for TV; don't watch.  It's that simple. 


But for the love of ALL that's holy in this world, let's not BITCH about it for the next year...and let's definitely not be rude/snotty/snarky to - or about - each other about it.  It is SO NOT WORTH IT.  The series is NOT going to be exactly like the book.  Hopefully close, as Diana said...but not exact. 

15 comments:

  1. hear hear!
    (and would it be too much to ask that we quit trying to figure out which actors will play which characters? Can't we just wait and see?)

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    1. LOL Even *I'm* going to have a hard time doing that, Genevieve. I keep having to remind myself to "Keep Calm and Wait for Outlander on Starz". ;)

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  2. I wish George R.R. Martin had the same focus and conviction. Maybe then the next book in "A Song of Ice and Fire" series can finally get going again...

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    1. Right, Faith?! We could say that about a LOT of authors, I think.

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  3. I can't WAIT for this to come out!

    I think DG would rock writing a screenplay. She rocks EVERYTHING. Come ON. I bet she just doesn't want to do it. And that's ok, bc we need book 8. And 9, etc. lol

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    1. I know, JJ...I've thought about this a bunch of times. I think that the number one reason she doesn't get involved is exactly what she said - it's all encompassing. She'd eat, sleep and breathe the Starz series until it ended. 24/7...all year long...not just during filming. She'd be dealing with the screenplay...she'd be dealing with all kinds of crazy fact-checking shiz that comes up along the way...she'd be on set, dealing with costuming questions and staging and actors. Lordddddd the actors. Some are great...some, not so much. And she'd have to deal with the personal relationships and the fact that she'd be stepping on toes every time the actors came to her instead of the Director for advice. And filming a series is not a film shoot; it goes on for months. And then she'd have to deal with editing questions afterward...and music and promotions...Can I get another Lorddddddd the promotions. UGHHHH. No thank you. I can't blame her one bit.

      I know some of you loathe the topic of Twilight...but look at how involved Stephenie Meyer was with the films. Her life was not her own for a few years there...and that was only film; not a TV series. Oy.

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  4. I read an interesting interview with Charlaine Harris (author of the Sookie Stackhouse books that were adapted into True Blood), and she has little to no involvement in the TV show--pretty evident, as the show has been completely different from the books for probably three seasons now. George RR Martin, on the other hand, is very involved with Game of Thrones (he wrote an episode this season), and that show is a pretty faithful adaptation of the books.

    So that's more my concern--not so much that they're going to cast someone who's 6'2" instead of 6'4" for Jamie, or that the hair won't be EXACTLY the right shade of red, or whatever--it's that after the first or second season, they'll diverge from the plot line that DG has set up. For example--what if the series kept J/C young? So in the second season, maybe they wouldn't bookend the story with an older Claire--and instead, they'd escape Culloden, and the next season would be more "adventures with J/C." Maybe they'd use some stuff from Voyager for season 3--for example, maybe they'd go to America--but do you see where I'm going here? From a casting/writing standpoint, doing that would be a lot easier than having to deal with the aging--but it wouldn't be the story we all love.

    But I'm getting ahead of myself....let's see what happens with season 1 first! :-)

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    1. I see what you're saying - but - maybe it would be a new take on a story we love? Maybe we could learn to love the new story, with characters we love, just tweaked in a different way? As long as they remain faithful to the characters themselves (ie: Jamie being who he is and Claire being who she is) does it matter if they take some liberties with the plot line here and there? I don't know, myself, just playing Devil's Advocate!

      Either way I am excited to see it! If I don't like it...meh! I can go back and read the books. Nothing will ever 'ruin' the story for me. It's in the books and honestly, it's a part of me!

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  5. I'm not going to bitch about it but I'm in film production as well and oooohhhhh, I just have to have my dream cast in my mind. It's so much fun to dream. As for who they pick, I can't wait to see it. If it's great, then GREAT! and if it's not, all I have to do is stop watching and go back to my wonderful books. *sigh* :)

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  6. RIGHT! My thoughts exactly, Melanie! I would be lying if I said I'm not going to obsess over casting. It's my thing!! (I just sent an "I TOLD YOU!" email to our writer/director about Charlie Hunnam showing up in Variety's 10 Breakout Actors of the Summer" list. LOL)

    But I'll tell you what I'm NOT going to do. I'm not going to crap on someone's opinion with a rude reply like "not even close...blah blah I'm so great and you suck blah". ;)

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  7. I'm excited for this, I gotta say. A tv series will do a much better job of the big story that is Outlander than a movie possibly could. And I have confidence that a good series can be made (take a peek at GoT to see how a big epic type story can be adapted well).

    I don't mind the speculating about casting, but the debate once actors are announced will be CRAZY.

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    1. RIGHT Ginny. That's what I fear. The backlash. And the ugly. And believe me - it'll get ugly.

      Remember when Robert Pattinson got cast as Edward Cullen? 5,000 comments on this one blog post , alone.

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  8. I can't wait for this!!!
    and @ Carol, it's so true about Edward Cullen! Everyone was, well, mmmphm'ed about him, but he became film Edward (different from book Edward, but still a good Edward). And same with True Blood, book Northman is very different than Askars, but both ARE Eric Northman. I'm excited to see who they cast!
    I kind of like Travis Fimmell from Vikings for Jamie right now.

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  9. Please God, I'm old. Let me live long enough to see this whole series.

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  10. This is my favorite DG quote from the above post: "I'm not a team player. (Ask anybody.)" I love her!

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