Doug Richardson first gained national attention when his screenplay Hell Bent… and Back was the first spec script to sell in Hollywood for a million dollars. He later went on adapt Walter Wager’s novel 58 Minutes into what was to become Die Hard 2, as well as writing/producing films such as Bad Boys (1995), Money Train (1995) and Hostage (2005). In between projects, Doug turned to writing thriller novels and penned his first novel, Dark Horse in 1997. Blood Money (2013) is the first of his continuing Lucky Dey thriller series. Here, Doug talks novels vs. screenplays.
LH. You began your writing career as a screenwriter, what drove the decision to delve into novel writing too?
DR: In screenwriting the natural progression is to direct. Since my wife and I were planning a family, I wasn’t interested in abandoning my children for the year or so it takes to helm a picture. So I tried writing a book. After that, any yen I had to direct was pretty much satisfied.
LH: When a great idea first springs to mind, how do you decide whether to develop it into a screenplay or a novel?
DR: It used to be about do or do I not see it on the screen. Is it marketable? Can the story be told well with just sound and picture? Or is it better told more internally? At least that used to by my fulcrum. Of late, since I’ve committed to writing Lucky Dey books, it’s divided into Lucky Dey or not Lucky Dey.
Read the full article here - https://www.shorescripts.com/an-interview-with-doug-richardson/