Screenplay Adaptation: "The Suitcase Man"

On February 29th, I said that my daughter, my niece and I were considering taking a short script and making a movie out of it for YouTube. I said that I'd keep you posted along the way, and mentioned that I'd already written the script. Here's a little bit more about that process:

I started by looking through the short stories I've written. I wanted one that:

• Had a very visual story.
• Could be filmed inexpensively (no exotic locations or special effects).
  
• Had a variety of characters to help demonstrate the talents of my girls.
• I hadn't sold the copyright to.
  
  And of course I ended up choosing "The Suitcase Man".
  
  I copied and pasted it into my scriptwriting program, Celtx, and broke it out into action, characters, parentheticals and dialog. Then I looked it over carefully and made a few changes for the sake of actors and locations. For example, I made the character Gretchen younger because my daughter will be 13 when we expect to film this. Finally, I adjusted some of the action and dialog to show onscreen some things that I had explained in the short story format.
  
  In the next "Suitcase Man" installment: how we chose our roles.