Debbie Horsfield at London Screenwriters' Festival

Debbie Horsfield with Heida Reed on the set of Poldark

Debbie Horsfield was one of the guests at the London Screenwriters' Festival today.  Leilani Holmes tweeted some of her talk.

Listening to the wonderful Debbie Horsfield next about adapting #Poldark. One of my personal favourite Brit dramas of late. #LondonSWF

— Leilani Holmes (@momentsoffilm) October 23, 2015

Demelza's tragic loss is a line in the book. There the reader imagines the trauma. On TV that space of loss has to be shown. #LondonSWF

— Leilani Holmes (@momentsoffilm) October 23, 2015

Side stories & characters had to tie into the main story thread to earn their space. #LondonSWF

— Leilani Holmes (@momentsoffilm) October 23, 2015

What attracted Debbie was multiple strands of story, lots of great characters and it was a great saga for TV adaptation. #LondonSWF

— Leilani Holmes (@momentsoffilm) October 23, 2015

She realised she needed to bring some characters in early and lose some favourites to make the stories work for TV. #LondonSWF

— Leilani Holmes (@momentsoffilm) October 23, 2015

When Poldark was announced interest and expectation peaked. She hadn't taken on board the weight of responsibility with adapting. #LondonSWF

— Leilani Holmes (@momentsoffilm) October 23, 2015

So as well as much trimming of story, gaps need to be filled in for an adaptation to flow. #LondonSWF

— Leilani Holmes (@momentsoffilm) October 23, 2015

We're watching clips to illustrate these. Even in a discussion setting this show is so powerful & captivates this room. #Poldark #LondonSWF

— Leilani Holmes (@momentsoffilm) October 23, 2015

It's about finding the heart of the story for each episode. Everything else impacts on that & that's how you navigate the story. #LondonSWF

— Leilani Holmes (@momentsoffilm) October 23, 2015

Debbie is an exec producer. They've just come back from an arduous shoot where they were double shooting eight episodes. #Poldark #LondonSWF

— Leilani Holmes (@momentsoffilm) October 23, 2015

It's an ambitious, epic show and the reality is intense and unglamourous. Double banking is hard & she had to re-write a lot. #LondonSWF

— Leilani Holmes (@momentsoffilm) October 23, 2015

They probably won't be double banking again. On location it's more difficult than a studio. #LondonSWF

— Leilani Holmes (@momentsoffilm) October 23, 2015

Debbie began writing the second series before the first became so popular so there was no concern for pleasing audience desire. #LondonSWF

— Leilani Holmes (@momentsoffilm) October 23, 2015

She returns to the source materia, how she presents unpleasant acts by popular characters never treads over the source. #LondonSWF

— Leilani Holmes (@momentsoffilm) October 23, 2015

Poldark is taking up much of Debbie's time (there are 12 books if the series runs that long) but she's keen for more adaptations. #LondonSWF

— Leilani Holmes (@momentsoffilm) October 23, 2015

The last two episodes shoot in the new year. #Poldark #LondonSWF

— Leilani Holmes (@momentsoffilm) October 23, 2015