We got an exclusive interview with the writer of the year’s biggest movie. Not bad, eh? Melissa Rosenberg has adapted the first three Twilight books, the second of which, New Moon, is coming out. She’s also a producer and writer on Dexter, which is midway through its fourth season, so we got scoops on both the show and the movies.

Crave Online: When you heard they wanted you to adapt the biggest franchise since Harry Potter, what were your thoughts?

Melissa Rosenberg: Well, it wasn’t the biggest franchise since Harry Potter at the time. Actually, it’s probably more like I didn’t know. That’s probably what saved me from freaking out too much. I really was unaware of the books until the studio brought them to me. Of course once I got a hold of it I read it all in one sitting and was delighted to climb onboard.

Crave Online: Did you know Chris Weitz was directing when you started on New Moon?

Melissa Rosenberg: No, I had actually finished a script before he came on board. Then I did several more drafts for him once he was on.

Crave Online: How did the script change?

Melissa Rosenberg: He had several specific ideas like specifically how he wanted to open the movie visually. Also there was a lot of condensing to do. I had about a 123 page script so we had to find ways to take it down. He also had a very specific idea for the end of it which I had not included, so I don’t want to be the spoiler.

Crave Online: But for fans of the book who know the ending, how would you have done it without that?

Melissa Rosenberg: Well, without spoiling I can’t really talk about details.

Crave Online: By comparison, how long was your Twilight script and how long did New Moon end up being?

Melissa Rosenberg: The Twilight script was shorter. We were probably at 111, 108 pages, somewhere in there. That was, in writing the Twilight script I had about five weeks to write that. I’d taken about a month to write the outline and then it was slam into a script and write it down fast because the writer’s strike was looming. That was a really intense collaboration with Catherine Hardwicke. It was just working 24/7, not sleeping, really just slamming it out there. Not my favorite way to work but I was surprised that we actually ended up with something that we could shoot.

Crave Online: I’m the same way. I prefer to have time but some things have to be done right away.

Melissa Rosenberg: Sometimes they do but generally speaking, time equals quality.

Crave Online: What improvements do you think your work on New Moon had to Twilight?

Melissa Rosenberg: I think going into New Moon, I knew the characters better. I knew the world better and I knew the actors who would be playing these roles. I had a sense of their rhythms and tones. Twilight I was writing in a vacuum. We hadn’t cast it yet. So once the actors got a hold of it, it shifted tone as well while it was trying to find what it was going to be. With New Moon, I just had a much better sense of what I was doing. You always hope, with every project that you do, you hope that you get better, that your craft improves. When you have time to actually do it, you know what it is? I had the time to be more inventive is what I would say.

Crave Online: For all the talk of more action, it’s still not Underworld. Do you feel there was more action or is that all hype?

Melissa Rosenberg: There’s definitely more action. It’s not trying to be Underworld. It’s not trying to be an action movie but there’s definitely more action in it than there was in the first one for sure.

Crave Online: I guess I’m responding to the action that’s there, it feels more elegant or mellow.

Melissa Rosenberg: Okay. Elegant is not a bad word to describe at least our director. The movie in general is a very elegant movie. He’s an elegant man and an elegant director so that you would experience the action as being elegant doesn’t surprise me. Mellow, it’s not the hardcore blood and guts that you actually see on screen. It’s implied but you don’t necessarily see it.