My Old Lady: Complete Stage Play and Screenplay with an Essay on Adaptation - Softcover

"Horovitz illuminates the process of adapting spoken drama for film and provides lessons for students and practitioners of both forms ... Copious examples are included ... For libraries that serve students of writing for film and stage." --Library Journal "Adapting a play to the screen can be a perilous undertaking. Language--the very thing that makes play great--can be the enemy of the cinematic experience. Luckily, Israel Horovitz is the perfect guide for this undertaking. He is a passionate master of both forms and a born teacher. This book is essential reading for anyone wanting to take on the challenge." --Barnet Kellman, director, Key Exchange (stage and film), Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Murphy Brown, Mad About You; Professor, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Co-Director, USC Comedy Dept. "This is essential reading for serious film students and filmmakers. Israel Horovitz, prolific playwright and screenwriter, combines personal experience with important information on the adaptation process and how to move from the more linear language of theatre to the visual language of cinema. A must-read!" --Bette Gordon, film director and professor, Columbia University School of the Arts Film "Brimming with bon mots and experience from his rich life in the theatre, Horovitz's essay on adapting dramatic works should be required reading for aspiring (and established) writers of stage and screen alike." --Abbie Van Nostrand, Samuel French, Inc. "Horovitzs complete stage play and screenplay must be read by every aspiring screenwriter or filmmaker." --Ulcer Alakabrova, Let the Movie Move Us "The magic of "My Old Lady" lies in the preternatural skill with which Mr. Horovitz propels his beautifully drawn characters toward what you trust will be their predestined fates. This is the kind of play in which you want your expectations to be fulfilled, and don't feel manipulated in the least by the machinations that lead you down the path to the final destination." --The Wall Street Journal "A thoroughly original cinematic tale." --AARP The Magazine "A crowd-pleaser. Maggie Smith is Masterful!" --Hollywood Reporter "My Old Lady ... is a delight." --Daily Express "[My Old Lady is] compelling viewing, People who complain about the absence of genuine adult drama from cinema screens have an opportunity to put their monies where their mouths are here." --RogerEbert.com

Famed playwright Israel Horovitz has written more than 70 produced plays, which have been translated in more than 30 languages worldwide. Along the way, he has also written screenplays for film including Author! Author!, starring Al Pacino, as well as the award-winning Sunshine, James Dean, and The Strawberry Statement. At the age of 75, he directed an adaptation of his play My Old Lady, starring Kevin Kline, Maggie Smith, and Kristin Scott Thomas. Now he shares tips and techniques on adapting plays for the screen. The book includes the full script of both the play version and screenplay of My Old Lady, along with an in-depth analysis by Horovitz of the challenges of adapting the written language of a play to the visual language of the screen. He discusses what inspired him to consider adapting the play in the first place, and his diligent efforts to distill the spoken language of the play into the visual language of film. In discussing his adaptation process, Horovitz also reveals his brilliant insights into the creative process itself, as well as how to keep inspired during the course of a lengthy writing career.