@MongoLloyd said:

No, that's not how it works. A film story (screenplay) is a certain thing. If you want to watch a novella on screen, go to it, but audiences generally don't embrace film stories that aren't film stories. Only filmmakers like the Coen's could get away with that because they have amassed enough fanboys to literally throw anything on a screen and make a profit from it.

I would suggest that this story, if made by a no-name director with a no-name cast, would have never been seen by anyone more than the cast and filmmaker's friends and family.

Look, let’s just agree to disagree like adults. I certainly write my screenplays how you say that they should be done here, but I am not that big on there being a rigid paradigm for the medium....

When you achieve Coen Brothers status, you can do whatever you want. As a filmmaker who has wasted too many years and my own dollars on producing films based on middling scripts, I would suggest you stick to the time-honored formula of - likable protagonist trying to overcome some opposing force to achieve something and in doing so, experiences growth.

Just a suggestion.

@MongoLloyd said:

No, that's not how it works. A film story (screenplay) is a certain thing. If you want to watch a novella on screen, go to it, but audiences generally don't embrace film stories that aren't film stories. Only filmmakers like the Coen's could get away with that because they have amassed enough fanboys to literally throw anything on a screen and make a profit from it.

I would suggest that this story, if made by a no-name director with a no-name cast, would have never been seen by anyone more than the cast and filmmaker's friends and family.

Let's not be too hasty here. Maybe it'll be fourth time lucky? :p

@MongoLloyd said:

When you achieve Coen Brothers status, you can do whatever you want. As a filmmaker who has wasted too many years and my own dollars on producing films based on middling scripts, I would suggest you stick to the time-honored formula of - likable protagonist trying to overcome some opposing force to achieve something and in doing so, experiences growth.

Just a suggestion.

That’s exactly how I do my spec scripts