“It’s incumbent upon any screenwriter, who is adapting anything, to extract the moments and characters and events for a thematic purpose first and then for plot.” – Kathy DeMarco Van Cleve

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Kathy discuss the reason for the popularity of The Shawshank Redemption, including the script (3:00); the importance of good acting within the film (14:00); the skilled directing of Frank Darabont (26:00); Stephen King and the story behind the movie (32:00); and how watching movies has changed and whether this film will stand the test of time (45:00).

Kathy DeMarco Van Cleve is a novelist, screenwriter, film producer, and teacher at the University of Pennsylvania in their Cinema Studies department. Her most recent book, Never Caught: The Washingtons’ Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge, came out in January. For more about Kathy, check out http://www.kathyvancleve.com/

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The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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