The Screenwriting Life with Meg LeFauve and Lorien McKenna 237 | Malcolm Washington & Virgil Williams (The Piano Lesson) On Adapting August Wilson's Pulitzer-Winning Masterpiece
Feb 13, 2025
Malcolm Washington, co-writer and director of the film adaptation of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson, and Virgil Williams, an Oscar-nominated writer known for Mudbound, discuss the unique challenges of adapting a beloved play into film. They share their creative process, emphasizing collaboration and the balance between personal stories and thematic depth. The duo also highlights the importance of character development and narrative conflict, revealing how their backgrounds influence their storytelling. Their passionate commitment to honoring Wilson's legacy shines through.
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Find What Makes Each Section Carry Weight
- Adaptation begins by identifying the dramatic movement and structural weight of each section rather than preserving every line.
- The Piano Lesson’s central conflict asks whether stolen history should become a memorial or a source of material power.
A Family Connection Sparked The Adaptation
- Virgil Williams joined the project through mentorship from Malcolm Washington’s father during the isolation of 2020.
- Malcolm Washington read the play while his brother prepared for Broadway and immediately imagined a cinematic ghost story rooted in ancestry.
Make The Screenplay Feel Like The Movie
- Write the screenplay as a blueprint for the finished movie, conveying scale, tone, rhythm, and visual intention through the prose itself.
- The writers used fireworks, flags, color, silence, and paragraph rhythm to establish the film’s cinematic language on the page.
