{"id":326,"date":"2016-03-29T11:20:54","date_gmt":"2016-03-29T11:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeatthemovies\/?p=326"},"modified":"2016-12-16T04:22:43","modified_gmt":"2016-12-16T04:22:43","slug":"the-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lifeatthemovies\/2016\/03\/the-challenge.html","title":{"rendered":"The challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

A challenge for an author is to sign away film rights to a published work.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This tendency is because a writer’s characters are precious and the writer has invested a significant amount of personal pride in a work as a whole. The finished product shouldn’t be tampered with.<\/p>\n

However, a few authors seem to have no such qualms and adamantly say yes to a movie deal. However, Pamela Travers does have a problem with it.<\/p>\n

There are all sorts of challenges in life. In Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Pamela Travers challenge is handing over her rights to Walt Disney so he can produce her children\u2019s book Mary Poppins into a film.<\/p>\n

Walt Disney has been trying to get the rights for twenty years.<\/p>\n

When Disney knocks on her door again, Travers needs money, as if that is an incentive, which it’s not, but her representative says she must give Disney a chance, aware she needs the money.<\/p>\n

Travers (Emma Thompson) takes the trip from London to Los Angeles to settle the matter with Walt Disney (Tom Hanks). The time in Hollywood, during two weeks in the 1960s, will enable her to see how they will handle her beloved work.<\/p>\n

\"Emma<\/a>
Emma Thompson (Pictured) as Mary Poppins author Pamela Travers in “Saving Mr. Banks”. Image sourced via google images (Flickr).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Travers huffs and puffs, the demanding author requiring every t crossed and every i dotted. She will not have animated penguins and Dick Van Dyke in the live action film.<\/p>\n

She disagrees that Van Dyke is a great actor. Laurence Olivier and Alec Guinness are greats, she protests (both British actors by the way).<\/p>\n

She crosses with Walt Disney on a number of times, claiming he\u2019s manipulating her.<\/p>\n

Walt Disney puts on everything for Travers to agree to the deal. He\u2019s charming, sensitive and compassionate, but Travers can see right through it.<\/p>\n

She fears Mary Poppins may go through the Hollywood machine before it reaches the screen and her beloved characters that she is attached to become manufactured. Her book may become meaningless.<\/p>\n

Eventually, after all his hard work at trying to convince her that her book is in safe hands, Disney is adamant that Travers won\u2019t sign away the rights to her book.<\/p>\n

However, she is missing the big picture of how Mary Poppins can reach a wider audience and touch the hearts of more children and adults.<\/p>\n

Will Travers relent?<\/p>\n

We all know how the story turns out. Mary Poppins won five Academy Awards. Challenges, as difficult as they are, can be overcome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A challenge for an author is to sign away film rights to a published work. This tendency is because a writer’s characters are precious and the writer has invested a significant amount of personal pride in a work as a whole. The finished product shouldn’t be tampered with. However, a few authors seem to have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":602,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,318],"tags":[73,28,33,8,10,9,75,54,16,7,24,39,12,72,74],"class_list":["post-326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dramas","category-practical","tag-authors","tag-beauty","tag-drama","tag-film","tag-film-commentaries","tag-film-reviews","tag-film-rights","tag-freedom","tag-life","tag-movies","tag-problems","tag-relationships","tag-second-chance","tag-walt-disney","tag-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nThe challenge - Life at the Movies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Movie flashback. 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