Book 1 Project

Book: Looking for Alaska by John Green

Idea: Looking for Alaska TV show

                Looking for Alaska is filled with many scenarios and topics relatable to teens. So why not broadcast it to every teen out there, instead of just the ones who like to read? A TV show directed towards young adults could be created, bringing all of the characters from the book to life. The pilot episode could start off with Pudge heading off to boarding school, and meeting all of the characters. Then the rest of the season could play out the book, ending with Pudge reading off his concluding essay about Alaska’s death. But the show wouldn’t have to stop there. Season two could open up to Pudge and the Colonel  going through Alaska’s stuff and discovering, under a pile of her books, a journal she kept labeled “Pranks”. From there on out the show could show Pudge and all his friends trying to play out all of Alaska’s pranks also with, of course, normal school teenage drama as a sub-plot.  

How does this relate to the book?

                When Pudge spends his first night at his new school, he soon learns that pranks are a way of life there. He awoke to people grabbing at him, leading him out to the lake, and tying him up. From there “they picked [him] up and hurled [him] into the water” (25). This was the first and last prank played against Pudge. He then proceeded to team up with the Colonel, Alaska, Takumi, and Lara to prank these kids back. In the Colonel’s words, the point of it was to “prove once and for all that [they] are to pranking what the Weekday Warriors are to sucking” (102). Then, only a day after the pay back prank was played out, Alaska dies in a car accident. The group wants to do something in her honor, so they carry out a plan that Alaska had wanted to do her senior year. They call it “The Alaska Young Memorial Prank” and decided to make it an annual event. They did it because they said “it would be etched in the memory of everyone at the Creek, and Alaska deserved nothing less” (201). So season two would come from the boys deciding to make the memorial prank more than an annual thing, and instead a weekly thing. They want to make sure the school never forgets Alaska, and they do so by carrying out pranks in her name.

Will the show be successful at reaching a wider audience?

                Not every teenager enjoys reading, nor do they always have info on the latest and best-selling books. A TV show would be a great way to get word about Looking for Alaska out there. It would draw in the young adults that watch TV more than read. Then, if the audience really likes the show, they can go pick up the book at their local bookstore and get a more in-depth viewpoint on Pudge’s first year at the school (since the TV show would not only show Pudge’s viewpoint, but the other character’s too). People who have already read the book can, obviously, watch the show too. With the help of the author the actors and actresses will portray the characters accurately, so the readers will enjoy watching the characters they came to know come to life in the show. The show will give them an image to go with the words they read, and hopefully they will enjoy it. Then, if the show becomes widely popular, the network can start selling other things such as t-shirts or journals made to look like the one Alaska kept as another way to bring in the audience and advertise for the book/show.