Vernal
A case study on adaptation of the true story of fracking in a small town turned into a screenplay.
Client
Ed McCulloch, director. Benjamin Thevenin, producer.
Brief
Adapt a true story reported in Rolling Stone magazine into a screenplay.
Process
I had worked with Ed on commercial treatments for years when he asked if I could write a treatment for a feature film idea. He and his producing partner, Benjamin, wanted to shoot a short film based on an article in Rolling Stone about the impact of fracking on infant mortality rates in a small Utah town. We decided to write a feature, as it would put them in the position to shop the project ready-to-shoot. Ed and Benjamin shared scenes they wanted in the film and introduced me to the real-life protagonist, a veteran midwife who first noticed the change in births in her area. I interviewed the midwife and conducted research while creating a narrative outline for the film. With Ed and Ben’s approval of the outline, I wrote the complete screenplay. The entire process took three months.
Result
A finished screenplay in development with a production company.