When I was invited to pitch for the job of adapting 鈥樷�� I hadn鈥檛 heard of the books but I had heard of author . He was one of my childhood heroes and I鈥檇 spent many a happy hour in the playground as ,听 perfecting my thumbs up 鈥�贬别测测测测鈥�. After much deliberation I decided not to include that as the big finish to my pitch. My inner nine year old was very disappointed with me.
The stars of Hank Zipzer - Henry Winkler and Nick James
I started reading and immediately fell in love with the character of Hank. A funny, resourceful and resilient kid growing up in New York who refuses to let his learning difficulties hold him back. There are seventeen books in the series and Hank is inspired by Henry鈥檚 own experience of growing up with . Like a lot of kids he wasn鈥檛 diagnosed until much later in life and at school was accused of being lazy and not trying hard enough.听 Henry and co-writer Lin Oliver鈥檚 stories chart Hank鈥檚 heroic attempts to overcome his difficulties and do the things the other kids are doing like get a part in the school play or be selected for a sports team or get higher than an 鈥楩鈥� on his homework.
I really connected to Hank and I realised it鈥檚 because at school I鈥檇 felt just like him in some subjects. I鈥檇 always been good at English but in Science and French I didn鈥檛 have a clue. The teachers were talking but I couldn鈥檛 understand what they were saying. It was like my brain stopped working. I suspect that each of us has a subject that鈥檚 our achilles heel where we just don鈥檛 get it. We all have learning difficulties to some degree and so we can all relate to Hank鈥檚 experience on some level. This wasn鈥檛 a series just for other kids with learning difficulties this was a series for everyone.
Henry Winkler, whose early life inspired the Hank Zipzer books, as Mr Rock in the series
When I was told I鈥檇 got the gig to write the pilot the first thing that went through my mind was - 鈥榙on鈥檛 mess this up鈥�. With every new project there鈥檚 a fear of failure, will this be the one where it all unravels and I find out I haven鈥檛 got what it takes? But above the usual self-doubt chatter there was a more persistent voice telling me not to mess it up because this was a show that really needed to be made. A show where kids can see it鈥檚 okay not to be perfect and if you fail at something don鈥檛 give up, the important thing is to keep trying. I decided to adopt this approach to the writing of the pilot. (I also decided it was probably time to cut back on my coffee intake.)
Most of the series I鈥檝e written on have involved me generating my own stories. I have adapted books before and have learned it鈥檚 a very different discipline. My own stories are mine, they come from a spark within me and are usually rooted in a personal experience or something that鈥檚 happened to my family or friends (but please don鈥檛 tell them I鈥檓 stealing their lives). When I鈥檓 adapting someone else鈥檚 story I鈥檓 always aware that I am the keeper of the flame not the person who lit the candle. Yes it鈥檚 important to connect to the story and make it your own otherwise it鈥檚 impossible to lift the characters off the page. But I never forget that someone else created the world I鈥檓 working in.
Episode 1 - Classroom Catastrophe - Hank's model of Niagara Falls lands him in hot water
As the Hank Zipzer books are stand alone stories I was given a free choice as to which one to choose to adapt for . In the end I went for the first book in the series because it sets up Hank鈥檚 struggle with his learning difficulties, it has a great slapstick set-piece with a model of Niagara Falls and a wonderful commentary from Hank introducing the reader to his family and friends. Now all I had to do was cut and paste and I鈥檇 be done and dusted by tea-time. If only it was that easy鈥�
The biggest challenge in adaptation is working out how to make a square peg fit in a round hole. The first thing I did was focus on the hole which in this case was a half hour. There are only so many story beats you can include in that time and you have to decide how they will be split up. Will there only be an 鈥楢鈥� story or will there be an A, B and 3 beat C story? I sat down with executive producer Anne Brogan at Kindle and we decided for the pilot to just tell one big 鈥楢鈥� story. We realised that if it went to series we鈥檇 probably have to include a B story because whoever was cast to play Hank would be too young to be in every scene. Child actors can only work a limited number of hours a day and so you need stories with adult actors (or other child actors) you can be filming in the other hours of the shooting day. We chose to only tell an 鈥楢鈥� story for the pilot because our goal was to introduce Hank and really get a handle on his world.
Nick James stars as Hank Zipzer
In the first pass on the storyline I kept close to the structure of the book trying to be as faithful as possible to Henry and Lin鈥檚 very funny story. If it ain鈥檛 broke, don鈥檛 fix it. Unfortunately this is when the square peg refused to go through the round hole. What worked as a wonderful narrative in the book didn鈥檛 have the same effect when squeezed into half an hour of screenplay. There were two intertwined stories in the book that when you stripped down the beats started competing with each other and splitting focus. We decided to strip out one of the stories of Hank putting on a magic show with his friends and focus on his main story of building a model of Niagara Falls for his homework project. I was sad to lose the lovely comedy in the magic storyline but it was a good decision and a good lesson for me. If you try and keep everything you can end up drowning out the story.
In the books Hank draws you in and talks to you as if you鈥檙e one of his best friends. He鈥檚 frank, funny and never afraid to tell you exactly how he鈥檚 feeling, especially when he鈥檚 failing at school. I was keen to preserve this relationship with the audience and so opted for a number of techniques to try and make this work on screen. I used both voice over from Hank as well as moments when he addresses the camera directly to keep this personal link. Hank has a wild imagination and I kept this by switching to Hank鈥檚 POV and animating what he was imagining over the live action. To hammer home the feeling of Hank telling you his story I messed around with the chronology. He jumps in and out of scenes, flashes forwards and backwards and will even freeze the frame to stop and tell you something important. Being able to tell the story so strongly from Hank鈥檚 point of view and go wherever he wanted to take you was very liberating and a lot of fun to write.
Writer Joe Williams with Henry Winkler.
When the pilot went to Henry and Lin to read I held my breath - had I ruined their wonderful creation? When I finally got to meet Henry on the set at Halifax my inner nine year old was jumping for joy. He was so charming and welcoming it鈥檚 easy to see why everyone calls him the nicest man in showbusiness. I have to say I was relieved the project had gone so well, I don鈥檛 think I could have handled upsetting my childhood hero.听 I really wanted to get a photo together with our thumbs up saying 鈥�贬别测测测测鈥� but decided it would be way too uncool to ask. My inner nine year old was very disappointed with me.
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