Students at Jane Addams Vocational High School, located at 900 Tinton Avenue adjacent to the Forrest Houses, were given an opportunity to take a look at the world of a professional writer. Visiting the students on Thursday, March 1, was novelist James W. Ellison, the author of numerous books and adaptations of movie screenplays. His most recent work is the adaptation of the film Finding Forrester. The author sat with students in the school s library as he explained what it was like to make a living as a writer. He discussed the art of taking another author s screenplay and turning it into a full-length novel.
Movies are about seeing things, actions and feelings.
Books also include thinking. This is something that needs to be incorporated when turning a screenplay into a novel. The story of Finding Forrester is a simple yet moving one. It details the relationship between a South Bronx teen named Jamal Wallace and recluse novelist William Forrester. Forty years ago, Forrester wrote an award-winning novel and then went into seclusion in a small apartment overlooking a local basketball court.