Why I Love Adapting Books for Screen
Is it the ultimate hack to speed up the process of learning the craft of screenwriting?
I hitched a ride on the back of an author. I could focus on creating a screenplay that worked.
How did I get here?
I spent five years trying to write my first original screenplay, “Magic Moments,” about Reg, an old Australian farmer who sang like Perry Como but had turned his back on his talent to be a farmer. Now, closer to death than feels comfortable, and working a farm stricken by drought, he meets a spiky teen transgender girl and …. well, you get the drift.
It was great fun, and I fell in love with screenwriting.
I did it well enough to form a relationship with a local producer who had contacted me years before about my children’s book Charlie Carver Stacks it! …
… but not well enough to make Magic Moments work (yet).
I read all the texts I could and enrolled in lots of short courses, but my story was going round and round in circles—I was heading down the plughole. Like my protagonist, Reg, I was frustrated and getting bored.
My producer friend asked if I’d be interested in taking a break to try my hand at adapting a book.
Choose a book to adapt
He flicked me — Once More with Feeling by Ceredwin Dovey, who, incidentally, has gone on to write a number of acclaimed novels.
Once More was a story about older people (a little older than myself). The protagonist, Arthur, was so close to my Reg that I continually entered the wrong name. It was a late-age love story with a nice twist and an original and important theme — dying with dignity.
I learned more about screenwriting in 12 months than I had in five years
The producer felt the story had commercial legs as a low-budget indie and bought the rights from the publisher/author. Depending on the pedigree of the author and the book, this isn’t terribly expensive, and you are free to do what you like with the story.
Of course I wanted to respect the work and hopefully please the author, but the first priority was to make it work on the screen.
Find the story in the story
From my initial read, I could tell the book’s ending wasn’t quite right — too convenient and a little depressing, especially for film. In addition, a funny, uplifting, entertaining first half gave way to a less engaging second half. I wanted to lean harder into the love story.
It was liberating to be gifted a fabulous pool of ideas and a researched story. I didn’t have to invent everything, yet I could change and add what I wanted. A small example, Arthur’s daughter in the book was separated from her husband — I gave her a same-sex partner.
I hitched a ride on the back of an author. I could focus is on creating a screenplay that worked.
My initial process was simply to cut, paste, and convert relevant dialogue and action into the screenplay format in Final Draft.
I didn’t outline this first draft, although I had a different ending in mind. I laid it out, intuitively ditching content I felt wasn’t needed and inserting new content for narrative flow — I tried not to get stuck. I wasn’t trying to find perfection. I was measuring up the body so I could tailor a suit.
I very quickly had a first draft, which came in at 127 pages. It wasn’t very good, but the fundamentals were in place and I got to know my characters so well that I never read the book again.
Many drafts later it all fell into place. It was a distinct moment when scenes merged or dropped out, characters were canceled, and darlings were murdered ruthlessly. I had finally let go of the book completely, and the story emerged clean, precise, and direct. Every scene progressed the narrative. There were no loose ends. And it had the touching tonality I strove for and that the book embodied.
How it worked out — did I piss off the author?
It took a year to produce a draft the producer and I were happy with. But I had moved a long way from the text. Fortunately, the author loved it.
We found a director first up who also loved the screenplay. I had written something that was already “in development” with a producer as committed to it as I …
… and I learned more about screenwriting in 12 months than I had in five years.
Since then, I’ve finished two more book-adapted screenplays and begun work on my fourth. The producer and I decide on projects collaboratively. I pick projects that inspire me, interest me, and have something important to say.
I’m not confined by genre. The second book was gothic religious horror. Then an action crime thriller/mystery. I’ve just started on an epic romance.
Is adaptation satisfying? After all, the ideas aren’t all yours
I have found it an unbridled joy and a privilege to build from another person’s work.
What appears on the big screen will never be all your idea anyway. Many, many people influence the work right up until the final cut.
Paul Schrader says:
But it (screenwriting) is not an art form, because screenplays are not works of art. They are invitations to others to collaborate on a work of art.
You can’t find a producer to work with?
My suggestion is just to pick a book you love and play around. Try it out!
Ideally select something that hasn’t been optioned yet (you can check that with the publisher).
That way, if you feel like you’re getting somewhere, you might be able to pitch the project to a producer who, if they like it, can secure an option.
Producers (at least mine) love adaptations. The basic story has already been market-tested and has a customer base. Data about how many people have read the book and how much they like the story (e.g., Amazon ratings) exist.
Why adaptation might just juice up your screenwriting skills
Some of the advantages of working with adaptation:
- You start out with a complete vision (which will inevitably change)
- The producer is as on board and committed as you are — the chances of it actually being made are much higher than sweating over a spec script
- It’s quicker, so you write more screenplays — therefore you learn more and you learn faster
- There’s much less chance of writer’s block (you will still get stuck)
- You get to work with different genres — therefore you learn more and you learn faster
- Each book has its own unique challenges — therefore you learn more and add breadth and depth to your screenwriting skills
- It’s ALWAYS interesting, and it’s always a challenge — this IS NOT a paint by numbers shortcut.
So, while adapting a book is a way to speed up the process of learning the screenwriting craft, the craft must still be learned. In my experience thus far, that process never really ends.
