Slap adaptation will be awesome: Cowell
Brendan Cowell talked about his experience in the writing workshop for the TV adaptation of the award-winning novel The Slap, which is expected to begin production in the second half of the year.
“Why don’t we work like this on our movies, and why doesn’t this happen more, getting to share your views with other people?” Cowell told Encore.
The Slap is an eight-part drama series by Matchbox Pictures for the ABC.
It is produced by Helen Bowden and Michael McMahon, with Tony Ayres as the script producer, Penny Chapman as executive producer and Christos Tsiolkas as associate producer and story consultant.
Cowell is joined by fellow writers Alice Bell, Emily Ballou, Michael Miller, Kris Mrksa and Cate Shortland. All of them had a workshop in which they discussed their methodologies and ideas for the series.
“That workshop was fucking awesome; it was one of the best rooms I’ve ever been in and it reminded me of Love My Way and the incredible writing team and the connection on that show,” explained Cowell. “It was a pretty charged and amazing environment.”
The actor – whose WW1 film Beneath Hill 60 opens tomorrow – said he had always wanted to write with Cate Shortland and also with his good friend Alice Bell.
“You’re so lonely a lot of the time in this [writing] process, and hopefully the scripts will match the incredible experience that we had in the room,” he explained.
“It’s quite a feat turning this book into an eight-part series, because so much of it book happens in the past and in the minds of the characters
“But having Christos Tsiolkas there we were pinching ourselves. He was very open to changing stuff and building things up that he hadn’t touched too much on the book,” revealed Cowell.
Update: Helen Bowden has told Encore that as of April 14, the scripts are still being developed and although they hope to start shooting in November, the production is not yet financed.
