The fascinating case of Stephen King: workshop with Daniela and David Tully

Sold-out workshop moderated by Dr. David Tully, on the challenge of adapting King's prose works to the screen.

What would our Festival’s ‘Fright Night’ be without a nod to a prolific master of horror?

For nearly half a century, Stephen King’s novels and short stories have dominated best-seller lists around the world, and have been ceaselessly raided by filmmakers eager to translate his work to TV and Film. The results of this film treatment? Everything from big-budget Art Cinema fare like Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining to bargain-basement grindhouse schlock like Children of the Corn.

Despite the wealth of material and the repeated attempts over five decades, truly successful adaptations of King’s material are rare. So what exactly is that elusive element in his prose? And is it necessarily a good quality to look for when writing our own novels and short stories?

In this workshop you’ll have an opportunity to take a deep-dive into what makes great prose storytelling unique and so different from visual storytelling. And as the printed word becomes more embattled in an increasingly visual age, this is a topic relevant for anyone interested in the wider literary landscape, beyond the fascinating case of Stephen King.