KEN JOHNSON'S RE"V"LECTIONS, PART 5

Early In the process of writing the screenplay for what he hoped would be “V”: The Second Generation, Ken Johnson realized that the story and characters would lend themselves to a novel. Negotiations began with Tor Books and Warner Bros., with the decision ultimately being made that he could indeed write it. The resulting novel was published at the beginning of this year.
   “It was a wonderful experience in that I could really let my mind go and really get in to the minds of the characters and a little more into their history,” says Johnson. “Obviously when you’re writing a 600-plus page novel, you can get a lot more information on the page than when you are confined by the length of even a four-hour miniseries. Also in the course of writing the novel I discovered many new scenes and elements and pieces and ideas that were very intriguing, and I went back and folded those into the screenplay. So I think the screenplay has also been enhanced by the fact that I took the time to write the novel.”
   One would assume that if his movie version of “V” works, Johnson will get the opportunity to bring “V”: The Second Generation to the screen as well.