I've written and self-published a four novel series and have been thinking about pitching the idea as a film or episodic series. Should I do a script version before making a sales pitch?
Screenwriting : Series based on books by Bill Albert
Other topics in Screenwriting:
Check out Trending Discussions
Register / Log In
4 people like this
I wouldn’t. I would pitch it. Then once they are in you can get development cash. Try not to work for free.
Plus a great pitch will take a huge amount of time to develop. So work on that.
Be prepared to get strange feedback. Feedback from a pitch for “The Walking Dead” ..... ‘can we lose the zombies and make it a procedural?’. CSI was big at the time. So your idea may need to find its time as much as it needs to find the right people.
4 people like this
I recall reading somewhere that a book-author is better off trying to get their novels noticed/sold then turning them into screenplays cause they can then attract those interested in buying rights instead of just being on the same merry-go-round in script form. Don't remember where, so take it for (the theory) it's worth... but makes sense to me.
4 people like this
Hey Bill! So if your book series becomes popular, or the right people read them, then writers or companies will reach out to you for the rights. If they haven't really sold and you're self published, which you are, then the books don't really mean anything numerically so you don't have that weight on your side going in. It's best to have a polished script sample, pilot or feature, of the first book or first chapters, or however you see the series. If the book is gaining traction, and I admittedly don't know much at all about that world, I believe you'll want to find a lit agent and a publisher to pick it up and help you go wider with it, which brings you back to the first thing.
1 person likes this
I adapted a novel to a screenplay and it was the holy grail of never again please! But it also felt excellent finishing that opus. My writing partner wants me to adapt another one, a sci fi novel and I find myself gasping for air grateful to have another big edit ahead of me so I can avoid it for now....lol
4 people like this
Usually a production company buys the rights to the book and then hires a screenwriter to adapt the book. With a TV series, they need a show runners - a writer-producer who will run the writer's room and decide what the episodes will be any who will write them.
You can always write a script and see if it sells. You never know. But of course if you can make the books popular enough to attract attention that would really help. Something I’m trying to relearn since the market has changed a lot since my last producing gig on a film 4 years ago. Took time off to take care of my mother.
1 person likes this
Bill, I'm going to assume you don't have an agent. Some book lit agents have relationships with agents who handle book-to-film rights. A lot of authors go that route. But you'd have to find an agent first.
1 person likes this
my cousin works for a big publishing company. They don't want their top tier Authors to write screenplays. That's the way mega corporations work - Publishers & Film Agencies & Studios - Salary Execs make decisions, hire professional screenwriters to adapt.