The Twilight Saga (film series)
Development
Twilight was in development for about three years at Paramount Pictures' MTV Films, during which time a film adaptation differing significantly from the novel was written. For example, the script transformed Bella into a star athlete. It was so different that Stephenie Meyer worried that she had made the wrong decision in selling the film rights to her novel. She said later, '"They could have put that [earlier] movie out, called it something else, and no one would have known it was Twilight!"
Development
When Summit Entertainment reinvented itself as a full-service studio in April 2007, it acquired the rights, seeking to create a film franchise based on the book and its sequels. Erik Feig, President of Production at Summit Entertainment, guaranteed a close adaptation to the book. Meyer felt that Summit was open to letting her be a part of the film.
Development
Catherine Hardwicke was hired to direct the film, and soon afterward, Melissa Rosenberg was hired to write the film. Rosenberg developed an outline by the end of August, then worked on the screenplay with Hardwicke 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." Because of the impending WGA strike, Rosenberg worked full-time to finish the screenplay before October 31. In adapting the novel for the screen, she "had to condense a great deal", combining some characters and leaving others out. "[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 using 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.
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