Henson and Juhl’s Tale of Sand: From lost archive to graphic novel and illustrated screenplay

Abstract

In the interval between the production of the short films Time Piece (released in 1965) and The Cube (released in 1969), Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl wrote the first draft of Tale of Sand, with the aim of adapting it into a feature-length film one day. However, both Henson and Juhl eventually became involved in other projects, so their manuscript remained forgotten for several years and the film was never produced. Found after some decades in The Jim Henson Company’s archives, the screenplay was adapted into an award-winning graphic novel in 2011 and three years later it was published as an illustrated screenplay, both with illustrations by Ramon K. Pérez. In this article, I analyse the graphic novel as an adaptation of the original screenplay, briefly focusing on how it combines different media types and production paratexts. Then, I examine the illustrated screenplay, its medial characteristics as well as its relevance within the adaptive/editorial project. The investigation considers the cultural and economic contexts of production and publication of screenplays, and their impact on adaptive choices and practices.