As a story originally conceived in a visual medium, acclaimed comic series The Sandman had some inherent complications when it was adapted for an audio adaptation. However, director Dirk Maggs noted that the project also had some advantages.
Maggs and Gaiman both took part in DC FanDome, in a panel titled The Sandman Universe: Enter the Dreaming. Asked about what it was like to work closely with Gaiman on the Sandman audio drama, Maggs had a ready response: "The process with Neil was very easy because Neil is still alive. Which is an enormous amount of help, it actually means I can talk to the author without using a Ouija board."
Thanks to the experience that Maggs has had across various media, and his special focus on radio drama, it's likely that he's had to adapt many stories without having the author readily available to discuss the project. However, Maggs also appreciated that he had access to another valuable resource: "The real joy was to get Neil’s original scripts.... that no one but a single artist would read." He said, "They're kind of like the blueprint," and talked about getting into Gaiman's mind and understanding what he wants to see.
Although the scripts weren't written to be the story that the readers of The Sandman would experience, Maggs felt that "They were a piece of literary art in their own right."
"There's real poetry in your descriptions," Maggs said to Gaiman. He remarked that he kept the adaptation as close to the scripts as possible, because "Why wouldn't you?"
Helmed by Dirk Maggs and narrated by Neil Gaiman, Audible's The Sandman stars the voices of James McAvoy, Riz Ahmed, Kat Dennings, Taron Egerton, Samantha Morton, Bebe Neuwirth, Andy Serkis and Michael Sheen. The audio drama is available now through Audible.