![]() “I think Lew Hunter has advised that you ‘spend all the imaginary money you want’ while writing. One thing Nearing doesn’t think about when writing scripts? Production budgets. “That led to a decision to throw all that work out and go at it again, bridging the length of the book by consolidating characters and taking liberties with the story, all while wondering if Sherwood Anderson was rolling over in his grave.” ![]() His initial attempt to get Winesburg to fit into the conventional three-act structure fell flat. But then you face the challenge most screenwriters don’t have to face: you need to distill the essence of a work that may take days to read into a very sprightly couple of hours.” “ you do have the benefit of the narrative template, and in the case of Anderson’s work, the benefit of one of the most beautiful and highly-regarded books in the history of American literature. Gerrold Johnson as Pastor Curtis Hartman in Last Soul on a Summer Night Someday they’ll make a movie called Toronto in Chicago.’” I was in Toronto at the Toronto International Film Festival, standing on Yonge Street, when a tour bus went by and I heard a docent say over her loudspeaker, ‘They made a movie called Chicago in Toronto. “In September 2010, I was trying to figure out my next move-the film to follow Chicago Heights. Nearing initially started writing that in 1995, as a novel he’d set in Toronto, but couldn’t find the right ending. Thauberger was deeply involved in writing the early drafts, and consulted closely as Nearing developed what would be come the final script. “My co-writer Rudy Thauberger and I went through a number of incarnations before its time came, and in retrospect I’m relieved that it didn’t come together until it did, and the way it did,” Nearing says. Nearing began adapting Winesburg, Ohio more than a decade before finally making Chicago Heights. “When I do research, I’m looking for idiosyncrasies or contradictions or ironies among facts that ground the narrative solidly in history, but also point to deeper truths.” Not surprisingly, Nearing appreciates Sherwood Anderson’s notion that character is everything, and that people should think in circles, not in straight lines. Plot is important, but secondary-all plot is a veneer to a large extent, regardless of genre, be it action film or art film.” “I tend to write vignettes, little scenes that resonate somehow or contain quietly epiphanal moments that help me find my way into character. Nearing’s approach to scriptwriting doesn’t begin with a detailed outline plotting out the entire story. Poster for The Last Soul on a Summer Night
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