Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects
Department
English
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, a series of 13 children’s books, seemed like it had the potential to become a massive franchise in a similar vein to the Harry Potter film series. Snicket’s books feature three plucky protagonists, a sinister villain, and constantly-shifting settings—all elements that could make a successful movie series. A film adaptation, titled Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events was made in 2004. It adapted the first three books in the series, and became a moderate financial and critical success. Despite the success, no further films were made.
As a fan of Snicket’s books, I was disappointed to see the film series end so abruptly. I thought that the episodic nature of Snicket’s books would work well as a television miniseries, which became the basis for this project. My project includes two full scripts (adapting two books from Snicket’s series) as well as a character list, an episode outline for the entire series, and a list of possible production schematics. The introduction contextualizes my project in terms of other book-to-television adaptations and allows for personal commentary on my adaptation process.
Advisor(s) or Committee Chair
Dr. Ted Hovet
Disciplines
Children's and Young Adult Literature | Film and Media Studies | Screenwriting
Recommended Citation
Pait, Ryan T., "A Miniseries of Unfortunate Events: Realizing the Full Potential of Lemony Snicket's Book Series through Television Adaptation" (2015). Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects. Paper 545.
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses/545