Short Screenplay – A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND
Adapted from the short story by Flannery O’Conner
This screenplay creates a short film out of O’Conner’s dark short story about a Southern grandmother and her family who take a wrong turn at the Grandmother’s suggestion while on vacation – and are then murdered by a trio of escaped convicts.
This is obviously a dark subject, yet within the short story there are moments of black humor and irony in the Grandmother’s relationship to her family and others, and ultimately to “The Misfit” who kills her. It was a challenge to bring some of that black humor through, along with the religiousness of both the Grandmother and the Misfit.
The ironic title is invoked during the film, but the amount of dialogue makes it harder to translate to a visual medium. There is an almost existential discussion that takes place between the convicts’ ringleader, The Misfit, and the Grandmother as the rest of her family is killed off camera. This conversation is the heart of the short story and is difficult to convey on film. But, I think the sense of dread – and dreadfulness – comes through. Read the script (pdf) »
