As a longtime fan of the Watchmen comic books, screenwriter Alex Tse always dreamed that one day he could have the chance pay his ultimate homage to the text and do what others have said would be impossible—turn the 12-issue comic book into a movie. Given Watchmen's length and complexity, including everything from a time-bending radioactive character to thoughtfully crafted moral and political dilemmas, fans worried that what they believed to be the greatest graphic novel of all time wouldn't survive the transition.

But Tse has done it—triumphantly, critics and audiences agree—and he's excited to share his insights on the experience with audiences at two of the panel discussions at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. The first, on May 2 at 4pm, will bring Watchmen cinematographer Larry Fong and editor William Hoy together with Tse to discuss the making of Watchmen. On May 3 at noon, Tse will be joined by screenwriting professors Kris Young and Weiko Lin to discuss the process of screenwriting and how to succeed with your own script.

Tse definitely hit it big when he signed on with Warner Brothers to continue the work that screenwriter David Hayter began in adapting the comic book for the screen. It is his biggest project to date, not only because of the film's $150 million budget but also because of what he describes as a "rabid" fan base.

"To be honest with you, I would be more precious with this script than something I created on my own, because I was such a fan and I revered it so much. This is the bible of comic books and it deserved to be treated with respect," said Tse.

In adapting a screenplay, there are always a number of concerns that must be carefully juggled—delving into the nuances without adding extra hours to the end product, adding visual thrills without going over budget, deciding which scenes most accurately depicted the film's main themes.

"One of the things I didn't want to compromise thematically was the questions the film asks you—what is the price of justice? What is the price you're willing to pay for peace?" said Tse. "We also didn't want to lose any of the amazing characters. If either of those were lost, it would completely defeat the purpose of Watchmen."

It was these larger themes that first drew Tse to the comic book, which he claims completely destroyed the archetype of the superhero when it came out in 1986. Instead of portraying superheroes in the moral realm of good versus evil and right versus wrong, Watchmen created superheroes out of people who for the most part didn't even have super powers. The costumed vigilantes who populate the book were real people with real flaws, and the questions that grew out of their morally dubious actions turned the superhero genre on its head.

"What really changed the game was that Watchmen presented superheroes no one had ever seen before. I'd never read any comic book like it," said Tse. "Beyond that, the politics, the ideology, all the things that were layered in the comic book were done in an incredible way. It changed how I looked at things."

Something else that made the comic book unique was that it was less violent than the usual comic books—a fact that had to change in updating the script for the screen. As Tse says, "there's no car chase scene like in Batman." He admits that there is much more gore in the film, and proudly takes responsibility for one of the more Kill Bill-esque scenes in the movie, when a henchman is killed by having his arms cut off with an angle grinder. As Tse argues, if he had just had his throat slit as he does in the comic book, he would still be blocking the jail lock. Overall, he is unapologetic for the extra gore because they didn't have to invent anything that compromised the film's general themes.

"It's cool for people to see, and it's not wrong to give the movie bells and whistles," he said. "From the studio's standpoint, they're spending $150 million dollars on it, and there's an expectation of something visceral there."

The film is visceral indeed, even though one of Tse's favorite action scenes of Laurie and Dan flying the owl ship through the subway system had to be cut due to budgeting issues. Such compromises are part of the screenwriting process, which can be difficult and thankless at times, requiring compromises not only in terms of writing but also in terms of overall lifestyle.

"To pursue screenwriting, you have to be passionate and willing to suffer for it," said Tse. "I didn't care if I had to be poor, had to eat junk food and sleep on people's couches, that kind of thing. That didn't matter to me. I wanted to be a screenwriter and I was willing to do what I needed to do for it."

He made the decision to become a screenwriter during college after seeing the film Pulp Fiction. Although he had previously been pursuing a career in journalism, Pulp Fiction set him on the path toward screenwriting, and he hasn't given up. In 2004, he wrote the script for Sucker Free City, a television show directed by Spike Lee. One of his favorite parts of working on that project was the diversity of cast and crew—" a diverse freaking rainbow," as Tse says.

While it's still harder to come by Asian Americans in the film industry than it should be, Tse is optimistic when he looks at the number of executives and other behind-the-scenes individuals who are Asian. Watchmen provides a great example, with its Asian American screenwriter, cinematographer, editor—all of whom will be joining Tse on the May 2 panel—as well as the script supervisor, who Tse does not want to overlook. He looks forward to sharing three completely different perspectives on the filmmaking process on the panel.

"I was talking to Bill Hoy, and it was like, here we are, three Asian dudes who were in three major roles on this film," he said with wonder. "It'll be cool to be up there with them."

To see Tse and others, join us at "The Three Watchmen" on May 2 at 2pm at the Director's Guild of America 2, and "How to Write a Blockbuster Screenplay...Sucka Free!" on May 3 at 12pm at the Director's Guild of America Atrium.