{"id":9114,"date":"2018-03-01T07:00:18","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T07:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/\/?p=9114"},"modified":"2018-03-01T07:00:18","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T07:00:18","slug":"thinkpiecethursday-tsotsi-and-the-origin-of-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/thinkpiecethursday-tsotsi-and-the-origin-of-ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"#ThinkpieceThursday – Tsotsi and the Birth of a Film #ETBSA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thinkpiece Thursday<\/h3>\n

Tsotsi<\/h4>\n

\"\"The film, Tsotsi<\/em>, is an adaptation of an Athol Fugard novel of the same name. \u00a0Set in a Johannesburg slum, it tells the story of a young street thug who highjacks a car only to discover a baby in the back seat. The character and film are a classic Power of Will story. It is Tsotsi’s connection with innocence that saves him, even as it triggers his downfall.<\/p>\n

The film won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006.<\/p>\n

Here is how the production saga began. A British producer and good friend optioned the book. \u00a0The biggest challenge was to update the story originally set in the 1950’s. A lot had changed in South Africa since the book’s publication.<\/p>\n

The producer and I discussed adaptation issues over the weekend he stayed with us in Santa Monica. I watched A Reasonable Man,\u00a0<\/em>starring Gavin Hood. \u00a0Gavin was then a little-known writer-director-actor from South Africa. In\u00a0A Reasonable Man,\u00a0<\/em>he plays a Power of Conscience lawyer defending a black cowherd on a murder charge.<\/p>\n

The producer and I agreed\u00a0Gavin would be an interesting choice to direct Tsotsi<\/em>. I gave a dinner party and Gavin was invited along with my producer friend and a possible production partner. Gavin knew the book and offered some insight into how he would approach writing\/directing the adaptation. What a wonderful creative evening!<\/p>\n

Along the way, I read script rewrites and looked at dozens of edit versions, including three possible endings. I enjoyed every minute and am so proud to be associated with this wonderful project. \u00a0Below is a segment of\u00a0A Reasonable Man<\/em> and the pre-Oscar win trailer of Tsotsi. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I am hoping to discover more breakthrough\u00a0South African talent while working with young filmmakers in Cape Town and Johannesburg this month.<\/p>\n

A Reasonable\u00a0Man<\/h4>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/GOgt9j2ZY8o<\/p>\n

Tsotsi Trailer<\/h4>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/rjxLQPumRpc<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Save<\/span>Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

#ThinkpieceThursday – An Oscar-Winner dreamed in my dining room<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,128],"tags":[109,1139,1662,1663,25,26,27,28,30,31,1664,522,32,33,34,1665,113,35,36,37,38,39,40,317,1666,41,42],"class_list":["post-9114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies-character-development-screenwriting-screenplay-script-blog","category-thinkpiece-thursday","tag-academy-award","tag-africa","tag-african","tag-african-cinema","tag-character","tag-characters","tag-emotional-toolbox","tag-etb","tag-film","tag-films","tag-gavin-hood","tag-ideas","tag-laurie-hutzler","tag-movies","tag-nine-character-types","tag-oscar","tag-oscars","tag-screenplay","tag-screenplays","tag-screenwriting","tag-script","tag-scripts","tag-scriptwriting","tag-south-africa","tag-tsotsi","tag-tv","tag-writing"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tsotsimusical.jpg",744,446,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tsotsimusical-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tsotsimusical-300x180.jpg",300,180,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tsotsimusical.jpg",744,446,false],"large":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tsotsimusical.jpg",744,446,false],"ttshowcase_normal":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tsotsimusical.jpg",125,75,false],"ttshowcase_small":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tsotsimusical.jpg",75,45,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tsotsimusical.jpg",744,446,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tsotsimusical.jpg",744,446,false],"Image Size 500x500":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tsotsimusical.jpg",500,300,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tsotsimusical-300x400.jpg",300,400,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tsotsimusical.jpg",600,360,false],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tsotsimusical-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Laurie Hutzler","author_link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"#ThinkpieceThursday - An Oscar-Winner dreamed in my dining room","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}