Gifford was thrilled with the film version of Wild at Heart.

FORBES: Novelists Don't Want Faithful Film Adaptations

Having grown up on the farm where the series, along with its British predecessor Wild at Heart, is filmed, he knows not only the space but also, and more important, the 60-plus animals that call it home.

FORBES: TV's Network Know-It-Alls

Panelists included writers Richard Price (whose novel Clockers was turned into a film by Spike Lee), Barry Gifford (who wrote Wild at Heart, adapted to the screen by David Lynch), Philippe Dijan ( Betty Blue) and Jean-Philippe Toussaint ( Running Away), who is, in addition to a novelist, an experimental filmmaker.

FORBES: Novelists Don't Want Faithful Film Adaptations