Exclusive Interview: Author and Co-Writer Shannon Hale on Sundance 2013 Film 'Austenland'

"Jane Austen has certainly been fodder for several film adaptations (thank you, public domain and large fervent fanbase). To further illustrate this point, at least nine versions of Pride and Prejudice have been produced as films, mini-series or television series with a tenth film version currently in development (and no, I’m not including the future production of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies on that list). Sometimes, it makes you wonder if this obsession with Jane Austen has gone too far (blasphemous, I know). To answer this very question, we get to look forward to the Sundance 2013 U.S. Dramatic Competition film Austenland, adapted from the novel by Shannon Hale, directed by Jerusha Hess (Napolean Dynamite, Nacho Libre, Gentlemen Broncos) in her feature film directorial debut, and co-written by Hale and Hess. In our continuing series of exclusive interviews with the screenwriters of Sundance 2013 U.S. Dramatic Competition films, we hear from Shannon Hale on her experiences adapting her novel into a screenplay and collaborating with Jerusha Hess.

In addition to writing the adult novels Austenland, Midnight in Austenland, and The Actor and the Housewife, Shannon Hale is a Newbury Honor-winning and New York Times best-selling author of six young adult novels. She also co-wrote the graphic novels Rapunzel’s Revenge and Calamity Jack with her husband, Dean. Hale wrote and persevered for nineteen years through several rejections before publishing her first novel. The film Austenland marks her first produced screenplay."

Read the full article