Acclaimed writer crosses the boundaries between film and fiction

Deborah Moggach will be talking about her latest adaptation for the BBC, The Diary of Anne Frank, and her writing for cinema where she recently won a Bafta for Pride and Prejudice and refer to some of the 16 novels she has written. Her novel ‘Tulip Fever’ was turned into a film staring Scarlet Johansen and focused on the rising value and subsequent crash of tulip bulbs in the 1600’s where rare bulbs were equivalent in price to a townhouse in Amsterdam. Reflective of the current financial devaluation of money, tulip bulbs followed a similar path.

With over 30 years in the business Deborah is considered to be at the top of her profession having written successfully for both major films, adaptations for the BBC and novels. This is considered to be unusual for writers to be able to cross the divide between writing for film and as a respected novelist, English Lecturer Sam North explains, ‘It’s a uniquely talented writer who is able to successfully work across the writing spectrum, from dramatic to prose fiction. The nature of writing for film also requires the writer to work as part of a creative team, and so there is also a difficult social element, also. A film has to chase after a big audience if it’s not to lose money and the various opinions at play as to how to achieve this means frequent changes to the script are necessary. Whereas the writing of a novel tends to be a far more solitary experience.’

He added, ‘Exploring the distinction between the two fields in the company of such a distinguished writer will be valuable to creative writing students and of interest to members of the public.’

Tickets can be purchased in advance from Exeter Phoenix box office and is open to members of the public as well as students. The talk starts at 6pm till 7.30pm and is in the Queen’s Building on the Streatham Campus at the University of Exeter.