In book into movies, who writes the screenplay? The author? Or somebody else? Do producers/movie companies buy the rights, and how much control over the screenplay does the author have?
Question about Screenplay adaptations...
- Thread starter jennifer75
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In most studio adaptations, the rights are purchased and that’s the end of the line for the original author. The somewhat-apocryphal “JK Rowling approves every change” is such a rarity that even if it were true, it would be a glaring exception to a fairly ironclad process.
Jennifer,
Typically someone else writes the screenplay. However, there are exceptions. I had a friend who had written a book, not published, and her agent negotiated for her to write the screenplay when Hollywood came a knocking. She got paid to write the script...and the option.
Samantha
Typically someone else writes the screenplay. However, there are exceptions. I had a friend who had written a book, not published, and her agent negotiated for her to write the screenplay when Hollywood came a knocking. She got paid to write the script...and the option.
Samantha
See that's just it...I'd love to get my story published, and I'd love to be the one to write the screenplay. Is it possible?
Publish the story. Hope it does well. Then, if someone comes knocking, hold out - don't sell the rights. Say you want to author the screenplay. If none of the above happens, you could always just write the screenplay on spec. Whether you publish the story first or not. (I love fragments.)
Yes. It's possible. But they want to know: does this novel-writing lady even KNOW HOW to write a screnplay?
SUCCESS STORY:
Peter Benchley wrote the novel Jaws and then wrote the screenplay for Jaws. Brilliant beautiful novel, brilliant beautiful film.
HORROR STORY:
Douglas Adams wrote the radio scripts for a zany weekly radio show called The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy which proved a roaring sucess in nearly every English speaking radio market in the world. He then adapted his scripts to novel form and they all became runaway best sellers, even being translated into many languages. He also wrote the TV scripts for the BBC TV series (heavilly based on the radio scripts, and they were really just visual renderings of the radio scripts). That TV series was also a huge success. Then Hollywood came knocking and Adams was supposed to write the screenplay --he had experience writing the writing radio scripts and the TV scripts, right? Sadly, he dragged out the process for over ten years, partly because he was a terrible procrastinator and also partly because he refused to throw away what he felt were the coolest bits of the story. And the worst failing he was guilty of was that he had little grasp of the three-act structure of a screenplay. He was an episodic writer, not an arc writer. It wasn't until after Douglas Adams died that they were finally able to get the ball rolling and hammer out an acceptable script with correct three-act structure to it.
Meanwhile ...
... My general understanding is that movie execs don't wanna hear it when the novelists wants to do the adaptation and so they'll do whatever they can to disuade that and to pry those film rights out of the novelist's hands. (But as long as you hold on to those film rights for dear life, there's nothing they can do.)
In a recent interveiw with Lisa Zupan of the Wendy Finerman Company (a movie prodco that focuses heavilly on adapting novels to the screen, such as Forest Gump and the recent PS, I Love You), Lisa Zupan said:
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usually only big name authors get the opportunity to adapt their "successful" novel. Peter Benchley had such a difficult time doing it that it vowed to never adapt another one of his novels. Anne Rice - Interview with a Vampire - she did other adaptations but none those were made but she had a few made that were adapted by other writers. Tom Clancey doesn't adapt any of his. and the most successful Stephen King - nearly all of his stories are adapted by screenwriters.
their is so much sacrifice in adapting your own novel b/c in the process you must kill so many darlings that most writers won't do it. and the scriptwriting style is so very different as well. it's the difference between drawing the blueprint for your house (screenplay) and decorating your house (novel).
but if you're an unknown and first time published novelist then maybe you can go ahead and write the screenplay now. you don't need to ask permission to adapt your own stuff. just know that selling and getting it produced is a whole different game.
their is so much sacrifice in adapting your own novel b/c in the process you must kill so many darlings that most writers won't do it. and the scriptwriting style is so very different as well. it's the difference between drawing the blueprint for your house (screenplay) and decorating your house (novel).
but if you're an unknown and first time published novelist then maybe you can go ahead and write the screenplay now. you don't need to ask permission to adapt your own stuff. just know that selling and getting it produced is a whole different game.
Anything is possible, but a great many things would have to happen for it to come about.
You'd have to get your story published or else have a producer come across it as an unpublished story and want to use it as the basis for a movie (exceptionally unlikely, unless you are actually sending it around for that purpose).
Having been published, it will have to attract sufficient interest for a produce to want to option or buy the rights to make it into a movie. Also tough, for a short story, given their relatively low profile (that is, no such thing as a "best-selling" short story, unless it's part of a collection as, for instance, a Stephen King short story in one of his short story collections might be).
If it is optioned or bought, unless you have some juice or leverage as the author (say you happen to be a world-famous best-selling writer) it would be very difficult for you to require, as a condition of the sale or option, that you write the screenplay, especially since (and forgive me for presuming this) -- that you have no professional screenwriting experience.
The simple fact is that, while a number of writers (those that have the leverage) often make this a condition of the sale, and they get what they want -- they don't really get what they want.
These kinds of demands are viewed by producers as simply an extra added expense above and beyond the cost of acquiring the underlying material.
That is, we've got to pay for the book -- and we've got to pay the author to "do a pass." So the author "does a pass" -- that is, he writes his version of the movie. Everyone looks at it. It isn't any good (and as a rule, why would it be, the author is a novelist, not a screenwriter), they say, "Thank you very much, but this isn't going to do, here's your final payment" -- and then they do what they were planning to do all along, which is go out and hire a real screenwriter to do the adaptation.
So while I'm not saying that it never happens -- unpublished short story to published short story to optioned/bought by producer conditioned on you writing the screenplay and they actually love your screenplay and the project based on your screenplay actually gets made (the odds of that happening are a whole different issue).
I guess I'm just trying to say that -- if this is Munchkinland, you haven't even gotten on the yellowbrick road yet.
NMS
Yes, if you want a real chance at writing your own adaptations, learn the craft of screenwriting by writing and marketing scripts. In general it's probably easier to start with original short or feature specs than an adaptation.
Jennifer..you have asked a very good question. I have always been interested in writing a screenplay from a novel but wasn't sure how to go about it. Do you have to contact the author, what?
Problem with original screenplays is that there isn't anything "original" left. Think about it..there are tons, literally tons of scripts out there that have been done before. Oh well
Problem with original screenplays is that there isn't anything "original" left. Think about it..there are tons, literally tons of scripts out there that have been done before. Oh well
I believe at last count, 80% of all scripts sold in Hollywood were based on pre-existing material:
--remakes of older films
--sequels to prior films
--derivatives from/adaptations from novels/TV shows/comic books/graphic novels
--inspirations from true lives/news accounts/police reports/public records
At least that is the figure that was recently tossed out to me.
This does not bode well for anyone seeking to do a spec script made up of an entirely original storyline.
*raises hand*
--remakes of older films
--sequels to prior films
--derivatives from/adaptations from novels/TV shows/comic books/graphic novels
--inspirations from true lives/news accounts/police reports/public records
At least that is the figure that was recently tossed out to me.
This does not bode well for anyone seeking to do a spec script made up of an entirely original storyline.
*raises hand*
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Correct, PD, but to get an assignment you need a spec as a sample more often than not -- to prove you can write a good script. This can sometimes be an original short film script or an original feature excerpt, or a call can result from a requested feature spec submission.
So often the first step is to think up an original movie, though the odds of selling it are not as great as the odds of getting an assignment, you can't easily get from point B without passing point A (the spec) unless you have relatives in the business, perhaps. But even they have investors to please, so you have to know what you're doing.
Even though so many elements have been done before, your characters and their situations will (or at least should) be unique. There are only so many possible themes and storylines--it's which ones you choose and what you do with them that makes your work special.
So often the first step is to think up an original movie, though the odds of selling it are not as great as the odds of getting an assignment, you can't easily get from point B without passing point A (the spec) unless you have relatives in the business, perhaps. But even they have investors to please, so you have to know what you're doing.
Even though so many elements have been done before, your characters and their situations will (or at least should) be unique. There are only so many possible themes and storylines--it's which ones you choose and what you do with them that makes your work special.
If you don't own the rights to the source material you have to figure out who does, and contact him or her to get permission, which may involve a request for up front payment, a % or both. Best not to start writing until you know if you can afford the rights!
Jennifer..you have asked a very good question. I have always been interested in writing a screenplay from a novel but wasn't sure how to go about it. Do you have to contact the author, what?
Problem with original screenplays is that there isn't anything "original" left. Think about it..there are tons, literally tons of scripts out there that have been done before. Oh well
I think NMS answered this very well in another thread. I'm pasting the answer below. (Hope this is okay to do.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by RylenolFlu
Just curious, if I'm interested in doing an adaptation, say for example, Roald Dahl's Going Solo, when I contact the publishing house what rights exactly do I need to ask for? And, on that note, should I purchase the rights before actually putting anything onto the page? Thanks guys
You would need to acquire the movie rights -- to be precise -- you'd need to acquire domestic and international movie rights.
But to be even more precise, what you'd really need to do if you were really interested in persuing this is to get yourself an entertainment attorney (a regular attorney would not do) to negotiate this deal.
As a writer, you can't do this. The act of "acquiring rights" makes you a producer. It means that you've become the owner of a property -- the owner of the underlying rights to the material.
Regarding "whether you should purchase the rights before putting anything on the page" -- this is the same as asking "should I buy the car before customizing it" -- generally the owner the car would greatly appreciate it if you were to buy their car before making your own alterations -- especially since the property in question might very well have have had the rights sold to somebody else before you ever even came along.
Depending on the cost (and don't think for a minute that they'd let you have it for free because they like you) you might be able to option it -- that is, pay a small percentage for a certain length of time during which you can write your script and try to sell it.
But if you can't sell it and the option expires, you're out of luck. It goes back to them and your script becomes forever unsellable.
On the other hand, you can spend a lot of money, buy it outright, write your script. Nobody's interested. End of story. You own it. Nobody wants it, you've spent a lot of money on something that will never sell. Bad deal.
Either way, you'll spend a lot of money on a lawyer and probably significant money on the underlying property.
You might save some money on the lawyer by investigating if your state has a "volunteer Counsel for the Arts" -- most states have them - in which lawyers provide free or inexpensive legal services for members of the arts community.
If so, you might be able to get an attorney through them to advise you.
NMS
Thanks for the answers...I didn't know if this was possible and now that I know it is....well I will be definitely thinking of original ideas