The Oscar winning screenwriter Peter Straughan wowed the crowd at Storyhouse Dublin this week for his honest depiction of the life of an adaptation writer. Straughan, born in Gateshead near Newcastle, initially found that Theatre was a way in, and although he said no to writing for film initially he admitted that ‘truthfully I was a bit scared of it.’ He got into film eventually when a producer said they had a completed script called 5 psychopaths go to Vancouver and that he ‘liked the title but didn’t like the script’ and could Straughan have a go at writing it. Giving the crowd exactly what they want, Mark O’Halloran who moderated the discussion was sure to ask Straughan where he kept his new Oscar, ‘I tried it in the kitchen, but it looked like I was showing off. Tried it in the bedroom and that was weird. So I have it in the study now – because it’s work,’ – was the modest answer.
On the art of adaptation which can sometimes be an overlooked category secondary to original writing, he spoke of the necessity of preciseness, and that ultimately an adaptation is ‘a thousand small choices,’ siphoning through works of art that need to be cut is never easy. He called it the ‘magpie process’ picking and choosing and keeping as much as the goodies as you can. Straughan approaches an adaptation like a normal reader, reading the book back to front without a pen in hand, seeing if he will connect with the material. The biggest decision however is picking the right book, he emphasised.
Straughan’s wife was his partner in life and in writing and when they co-wrote a few pieces together they ‘stupidly’ sat at the computer side by side and soon found out ‘it was like 2 people trying to ride a bike at the same time.’ In terms of the stories he is drawn to, Straughan hadn’t noticed the pattern for many years but on reflection he found that he always drifted towards stories between traitors and those that are loyal. His work on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy exemplified this, and even his recent Conclave was an exploration of Ralph Fiennes character that was quietly loyal to the previous Pope. On the process of writing he commiserated with the audiences of budding writers, ‘it never gets easier,’ but swore by the advice he takes himself which is to always be half way through your work so that the next day you are over the hump and know exactly where to begin. Even though that Oscar sits proudly in his study, the fear of a blank page never leaves a writer.
Peter Straughan was a keynote speaker at the Storyhouse Festival in Dublin that took place 3-4 April 2025
FILM FOR THOUGHT 