ADAPTATION: Is Your Book or Short Story Suited for the Screen?
Some of the best movies and TV shows of all time have been adapted from novels, memoirs, or short stories.
The Age of Innocence. Forest Gump. Beloved. The Talented Mr. Ripley. Minority Report. Precious. The English Patient. Devil in a Blue Dress. The Help. LA Confidential. Their Eyes Were Watching God. The Joy Luck Club. The Harry Potter Series. Lord of the Rings. Hidden Figures. Gone Girl. White Oleander. The Godfather. Silence of the Lambs. The Road. Trainspotting. The Kite Runner. The Maltese Falcon. Ghost World. The Color Purple. Brokeback Mountain. Arrival. Wild. The Shining. The Handmaids Tale. Little Fires Everywhere. Nomadland. Jurassic Park. Hunger Games. The Great Gatsby. Crazy Rich Asians. The Girl on the Train. Normal People. Mean Girls. Shawshank Redemption.
What am I missing? Oh, that little book series called Dune. And that other one that starts with a “D”. Right! Dracula.
And now more than ever, with what seem like infinite streaming options, from Netflix to Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBOMax and Apple, and a bunch of others I’m certain I pay for but can’t remember to click on when I’m mindlessly searching for my next binge - books are being adapted into TV series at what appears to be breakneck speed. TV pitches are out pacing feature films 5:1 when it comes to options and development (getting green lit and made is a whole other story).
Why? It’s true that the pandemic has hastened this inevitable sea change in what seems to be overnight (because let’s face it, two years of pandemic stasis feels like Groundhog’s day jet lag). But the more practical, if less obvious reason, is that with all the uncertainty over our future, the movie industry understandably need to pump the breaks and reassess not only how they distribute content, but also where they find it. In other words, tried and true books which already exist, with proven readership, seem like a better bet. They come with the (perceived) insurance of pre-vetted and published material with a built in audience, reviews, and over 250 pages of stuff to mine, embellish, and reframe for the screen.
This “IP” (Intellectual property) is in high demand now. Be it personal essays, biographies, memoirs, horror and science fiction short stories, historical fiction, thrillers (my jam) and intricate family dramas with a peek behind the curtain into an obscure world or community.
This is great news for authors with recently published books, manuscripts in progress, short stories with competition awards, and anthology contributors. At the end of the day, having a fleshed out world and idea with a great character who goes on a journey that feels compelling has the makings of a potential project for the screen.
Some of you may be thinking one (or several) of the following:
1. I published a historical novel five years ago which got a substantial advance, glowing reviews, and had some interest from film land. But that went no where and now the book is stuck in the dead letter office.
2. My memoir received interest from multiple literary agents and I got a ‘close but not quite’ from a traditional publisher, but ultimately it didn’t sell.
3. My science fiction short story won numerous awards when it was published in 2017 - and that was something to celebrate. But I’ve been told it has a fantastic hook, is cinematic, and would make a great movie.
4. I have an outline that I’ve been trying to write as a screenplay but I’m banging my head against the wall learning how to use Final Draft and cramming on screenplay structure and how-to’s.
What do I do?
For those of you with completed pieces of intellectual property (1-3) you are undoubtedly wondering whether the shelf life on your material has expired. Is there any way to resuscitate it?
YES. Your book or story may not seem, in its current form, to have screen potential. You may be over it. You may have heard that it’s too “quiet”, “sprawling”, or “internal” and jumps around in time too much. Or that the ‘idea” has been done before and the time period its set in is passé. But I believe - and have witnessed - that none of that has to be true.
You can reconcieve your story without compromising it’s fundamental narrative and integrity and reposition it for the screen.
Watch movies and TV shows that have been adapted that are in your genre or resemble the protagonist, conflicts, pacing, or world that your story inhabits. Start thinking about it differently.
How you portray your story is within your control. You can dial up certain aspects, plot points, and zoom in on certain characters or storylines - and not include others.
At the end of the day, your book will be adapted anyway. Meaning, it will change. It likely won’t contain the same chronology, setting, or expanse that your book does. That’s ok. That’s actually great. That’s what adaptation means. Leave it to the movie producers and directors and TV show runners and writers to figure out how.
Which brings me back to #4 above. If you’re struggling with how to craft your idea into a screenplay, take a step back and ask yourself: Could it be a short story, essay, or novella?
In other words, could you write your idea into a piece of IP? You can always self publish it, and there is zero wrong with that. Getting the thing out into the world so that it exists is paramount.
As some of you may know, I had the crazy good fortune of selling a short story to a studio called Amblin run by a guy named Steven Spielberg, that is moving up the development ladder (I can’t cross my fingers as I simultaneously type this but you get the gist).
While I know how to write screenplays and have had a few projects sold or commissioned over the years, I do wonder - had I written this particular piece as a script - if the outcome would have been the same. Maybe I would have received attention for the concept, but ultimately the execution of the screenplay that I wrote would have been too finite. Too set in stone for a filmmaker or studio to reimagine and shape - be it for a series or for a film - and hire and collaborate with the seasoned creators they have deals and relationships with to bring it to fruition.
Just like an interior designer, playwright, or landscape artist, each and every creator with experience in their craft will have their own unique vision on how to express and paint the canvas on which your story rests.
Additionally, short story, life story, and book options tend to cost less up front than spec screenplays do. The investment for a studio or production company in a piece of IP is less daunting and committal (for better or worse for us writers) than it is for a fictional, three act blueprint of an IP in the form of an 120 page screenplay.
So, to all you talented authors! Dust off those manuscripts. Grab your novel off the shelf and run your fingers lovingly over the cover (or hell, kiss it like a long lost lover minus the heartbreak). Write your work in progress manuscript while peering through the screen lens and think more cinematically and actively, without changing the heart and soul of the story you yearn to tell.
And as for you tried and true screenwriters, film school grads, and those of you that love movies as I do, all of this is good news for you too. Films, be it independent or studio fare, are continually going to be in demand due to the insatiable need for content and the never ending desire to see human stories played out visually and viscerally.
Know your strengths and what motivates you and lean into that fearlessly. Look under the idea hood and craft your story in the manner in which you see it. I have written several novels as well as screenplays, with varying levels of success (and stadiums full of crickets). Each one began with an idea and an instinct for which medium would best serve that idea as well as my bandwidth at that time, and the craving I felt inside. The itch that could only be alleviated by scratching words onto a page with a pen.
Some core ideas are better served as scripts, especially if that is the craft you have been refining and the language you speak. And some ideas are meant to be written in prose.
The only job you have is to lean into your strengths and discern the difference as you embark on your writing journey, and let go of the outcome.
And most importantly, just keep on writing.
“Writing…is a little like milking a cow: the milk is so rich and delicious, and the cow is so glad you did it.”
― Anne Lamott
Look out for my next “Book to Screen” workshop and schedule for 2022 by signing up for my future workshop notices.