I was on a writing live stream with some friends today, and there was another screenwriter in the group. We got into a really fun conversation about writing movie adaptations of books. I thought it would be a fun conversation to have here.
So, if given the chance would you want to write the screenplay adaptation of a book, and if so, what book would you write?
For me, I said no way! I have seen so many adaptations that did not go well and people want to burn you alive! For me, there would be too much pressure to get it right. If it was an adaptation of a book I wrote, that would be different because no one really knows my book as well as I do, so I know what can and can't be cut.
If I absolutely had to write one, it would be Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught. It is one of my favorite books of all time. I have read that book at least 20 times . Even then I would be so afraid to get it wrong because it's a beast of a book at over 700 pages.
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Yep. Pay me I write anything. Plus there are a few books that I would adapt. For me this isn’t a slavish transcription. It is me reading the story and retelling it in a new medium. So it is an adaption, but only from a legal POV. For me it is a new telling.
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since Movie-ish is a different language, with mostly another audience, I think if the book's message is important enough for me I would give it a try. I have thought about trying my hand at a biography (Maria Theresia) and other strong women for a while. Frankls 'A psychologist experiences the KZ' is a very important book for me, but I don't think I could do it credit, however hard I tried.
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The book needs to have at least some cinematic tendencies;
So in reading and identifying if it's suitable for cinema, I would want to discover the basics, character web, main through-line, subplots, movement and action, suspense, intrigue, romance, magnetism, intelligent dialogue with subtext and pace, themes, structure, all things essential to a good film.
And finding a tone and story where I want to spend a year of my life.
My favorites would be Rachel Kushner, Barbara Kingsolver, TC Boyle, John Le Carre.
There are many others over the years I've thought would make great movies, perhaps many well-known authors' books are optioned and in development and just waiting for the right time.
I wrote my first novel based on one of my screenplays and I am working on a second one the same way, the script makes a great outline for a novel and if it's already cinematic provides structure and a fast-paced read.
So having done that proof of concept in the other direction I would tackle the adaptation if I thought the book was fast-paced, structured and full of visual imagery and strong story dynamics, convincing me that it would make a great movie!
Because if the novel is filled with a lot of rumination, meandering, characters stuck in episodic or dull conflicts that take a long time to build, sure maybe it could be done but I'd rather find a property that already has at least some of the attributes of a film, it's a tough enough challenge even then I would think.
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I write both and tend to adapt my own books if they play out right in my head, I would have to have a connection to the story to do someone else's book and I tend to write everything from a period of connecting with characters and story which is why I probably find my own books easier to do.