Screenplay vs Novel? Please advise.

Christina B. Conroy · Jun 8, 2009

I'm a newly published novelist and still confused about many things. My steamy love story, ONE MAN'S MUSIC, is on the shelves at Barnes & Nobles, and doing pretty well on Amazon.com. I wrote it as a screenplay before the novel version, and wonder which is better to submit to movie studios. I am told that novelists are seldom allowed to adapt their own books and that professional screenwriters are brought in. Please share your expertise. Many thanks.

Christina Britton Conroy

Memnon624 · Jun 8, 2009

Check your contract and make sure you retained film/screen rights. IMO, the two media are so different in their business practices that you'd be best served by writing more books and letting your agent (assuming you have one) handle any sales of script rights.

Best,

Scott

icerose · Jun 8, 2009

The reason being is few novelists know how to write a really good script. So they bring in a pro who can handle it. A lot of people think that because they can write a good script, they can write a good novel and vice versa. They are, in fact, two very different art forms and both have to be learned.

Screenplay vs Novel? Please advise.

Christina B. Conroy

Memnon624

A Boy and his Orc . . .

icerose

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