Katherine Chediak Putnam

When the Director Rewrites the Script: The Case of the Brazilian Feature Film ‘Perdida’

University of Southern Queensland, Australia

Scriptwriters are well-acquainted with the expression “wriKng is rewriKng.” The first draR of
a screenplay marks the commencement of a lengthy developmental journey that may span
many years or even decades of a writer’s lifeKme. However, in certain instances, when a
script is greenlit for producKon, a new creaKve voice enters the process—the Director.
Directors read the screenplay and assess whether the material aligns with their vision for the
film, as well as considering the producKon budget and limitaKons. Some Directors
collaborate with the screenwriter to further develop the story, while others opt to rewrite
the screenplay themselves, a process commonly referred to in the film industry as the
“Director’s Pass”. Examples of the Director’s Pass include Greta Gerwig’s rewrite of the 2019
adaptaKon of Li#le Women (originally wri_en by Sarah Polley), Christopher Nolan’s 2014
Interstellar (originally wri_en by Jonathan Nolan), and John Krasinski’s rewrite of the spec
script A Quiet Place (2018), to name a few. The Director’s Pass can manifest in various forms,
ranging from a complete rewrite to minor adjustments aimed at enhancing the visual
storytelling elements, streamlining locaKons, or simplifying scenes. This paper will delve into
the Director’s Pass funcKon and its pracKcal implicaKons, uKlizing my experience as the
Director of the Brazilian feature film Perdida (Putnam et al., 2023) as a case study. The
discussion will focus on how my Co-Director and I rewrote the screenplay, restructuring the
original script into the shooKng draR of the film.

Dr. Katherine Chediak Putnam is a Brazilian film lecturer at the University of Southern
Queensland and a film pracKKoner based in Queensland, Australia. Her research and
teaching focus on screenwriKng for genre cinema, cinemaKc language, and gender studies.
Katherine is an established filmmaker, having co-wri_en two horror short films—Stray
(2018) and Inferno (2020)—and directed the la_er. Both films were showcased at presKgious
internaKonal film fesKvals such as the Sea_le InternaKonal Film FesKval, Sitges Film FesKval,
Dances with Films, and BiFan. Notably, Stray was nominated for an Australian Writers’ Guild
Award for Best Short Screenplay. In 2023, Katherine’s Brazilian feature film debut, Perdida,
was released in Brazilian theatres and on Disney+. The film, co-produced and distributed by
Disney Brazil, marked a significant milestone in her career.