Production of Twilight - Development

Stephenie Meyer's paranormal romance novel Twilight was originally optioned by Paramount Pictures' MTV Films in April 2004, but the screenplay that was subsequently developed was substantially different from its source material. When Summit Entertainment reinvented itself as a full-service studio in April 2007, it began development of a film adaptation anew,having picked up the rights from Paramount (who coincidentally had made an unrelated film with the same title in 1998) in a turnaround.The company perceived the film as an opportunity to launch a franchise based on the success of Meyer's book and its sequels. That summer, Catherine Hardwicke was hired to direct the film and Melissa Rosenberg to write the script.
Rosenberg developed an outline by the end of August, and collaborated with Hardwicke on writing the screenplay during the following month. "[She] was a great sounding board and had all sorts of brilliant ideas.... I'd finish off scenes and send them to her, and get back her notes." Due to the impending WGA strike, Rosenberg worked full-time to finish the screenplay before October 31. In adapting the novel, she "had to condense a great deal." Some characters from the novel were not featured in the screenplay, whereas some characters were combined into others. "[O]ur intent all along was to stay true to the book," Rosenberg explained, "and it has to do less with adapting it word for word and more with making sure the characters' arcs and emotional journeys are the same."Hardwicke suggested the use of voice over to convey the protagonist's internal dialogue – since the novel is told from Bella's point of view – and she sketched some of the storyboards during pre-production.Article Directory : en.wikipedia.org