"Dan Simmons - The Offering" - читать интересную книгу автора (Simmons Dan)

Fifth, one of the top people thought I should also throw out the idea of "cancer vampires"—but, hey, I
had to draw the line somewhere. I pointed out that this was the concept for which they had bought the
story. I rea-soned with them. I used logic. Then I held my breath until I turned blue, pounded my heels on
the linoleum, and threatened to fax them six bales of junk mail if they didn't let me keep my cancer
vampire. They relented.

There's more, but I think you get the idea. The ques-tion I faced was—could I adapt "Metastasis" so that
the essence of the short story survived even while I tossed out major plot elements, characters, settings,
and structure for the reasons listed above?

I found the challenge rather enjoyable. As I write this, the studio is just finishing the filming (actually
taping) of "The Offering" and I have no idea when I'll see it. I don't know which actors were chosen. I
can only guess what changes were made in the script during the actual produc-tion. (For those of you
interested, the program will be aired on a syndicated series called monsters, scheduled somewhere
between 11:00 P.M. and 4:00 A.M. in most lo-cal markets. God knows where and when it will be by
the time you read this.)

I'd be curious to know what you think of this adapta-tion.
***
ACT I
FADE IN:
1. EXT. A CAR. NIGHT.

We open with a montage of images: E.C.U. of rain on a windshield, the blur of a windshield wiper; we
close on LOUIS—a handsome young man but agitated now, un-shaven, intense, blinking in the glare of
oncoming lights and obviously upset about something—a sudden flash of light too bright to be a passing
car, brakes squealing, metal tearing ... from Louis's P.O.V. we see everything spinning and the glare
expanding, the sound of impact, filling the universe with rising noise and moving light...

DISSOLVE TO:



2. INT. HOSPITAL ROOM. DAY.

The moving light blurs, comes into focus, and we see that it is a penlight held by DR. HUBBARD, an
avuncular, older man wearing a white hospital coat over his suit.
DR. HUBBARD

Louis? Louis, can you hear me? Louis?
Louis tries to lift his head but is restrained by the doctor.
DR. HUBBARD

Easy, Louis. Easy. Just lie still for a moment. Do you know where you are?
Louis's head is heavily bandaged. He groans again, tries to lift both hands to his head, but stops—staring
at his hospi-tal ID bracelet, the IV in his left arm, his hospital gown—looking around in surprise. He
moves his head slowly, obviously in great pain, and squints up at the doctor.
LOUIS

Dr. Hubbard? Yeah, I know where I am ... the hospital ... but why? What happened?