Adaptation

This question is going to suck. I have an idea to turn a computer game (I
feel so cheap) into a screenplay. Just as a side-note, it’s more of the atmosphere
of the game that’s appealing, not the quick buck mentality. Obviously I can’t
afford to buy the rights, but where do I lie submitting it to agencies? Would
they even look at it?

–Chris

Your question doesn’t suck. I adapted a computer game into
a movie ("American McGee’s Alice"), and I didn’t feel a wee bit cheap.

But then, it was a damn cool game, and I got paid. So there you have it.

Since you don’t think you can get the rights to the game, ask yourself if
you’re still willing to write a script that can never get made (or even sold).
If the answer is yes, go for it.

Some agents will avoid reading your script, simply because they know they
can never sell it. But some agents will read it as a writing sample, and if
the atmosphere of the game world is as cool as you say, maybe they’ll like
it and see you have potential.
Make sure you identify your source material on the cover page, which would
read:

TITLE

written by Chris Somebody

 

based on the videogame "Underpants Wars"

published by Powerful Software Company

Considering you’re probably broke, and the fact you won’t be able to sell this anyway, there’s
very little danger
Powerful Software Company would bother coming after you. But you’re
morally and karmically better off giving credit where it’s due.

I’ve heard it being said that one of the ways to get producers interested
in your screenplay’s story is to do it the long way and write the book first.
Do you agree, and is it harder to get a book published than a screenplay bought?

–Brian

Wow. Writing a screenplay, and then writing a book based on the screenplay,
seems like a tremendous amount of misdirected work. Yes, some producers do
like to read novels, but the vast majority would prefer a script to a novel
any day of the week. After all, a script is a lot closer to being a movie than
a book is. Plus it’s shorter, and you can throw it across the room without
damaging your walls.

My advice is to pick the format you’d prefer to write, hopefully the one that
best matches your story. If you choose to write a book, make it the best book
possible — don’t go overboard trying to load it up with "this would be
a great movie!" moments. If you choose to write a script, trust that the
quality of your writing is all you’ll need to sell it.

I recently adapted a book called BIG FISH by author Daniel Wallace. Meeting
with him for the first time, I was surprised to see he had never thought of
his book being a movie. The moments I thought were cinematic, he thought were
just good storytelling.

As for your second question, I’m not sure whether being published is easier
or harder than selling a script. My gut instinct is that it’s easier to be
published, simply because there are so many different publishing houses, and
frankly, so many books. But there’s a big difference between being published
and making money.

I recently graduated from college with a film and video degree. The one thing
I can’t get anyone to answer is on adaptation. I have asked people ranging
from well known screenwriters, feature film producers and so on. They always
dance around my question!

I am writing a screenplay based on a true-life story,
but my information is coming from a non-fiction book that tells the story.
Much like THE PERFECT STORM in the way that it is told by a third party writer
of the facual events. What is the process that I need to go through to get
the
rights,
without
putting me in debt for life?

–Scott Adams

The reason people are dancing around the question is because there are so
many variables in each situation. A blanket answer probably would be false
as often as it is true. I can talk you through a very general scenario that
will give you an idea of the issues involved, but an experienced attorney will
ultimately need to get involved.

The first two questions this person would ask are:

To what degree are you basing the project on the book, versus public domain
material? In the case of THE PERFECT STORM, the movie is very clearly
based on Sebastian Junger’s book, relying on his research, characterization
and storytelling structure. The producers paid Junger money – in this case,
quite a lot of money – for the right to adapt his book into a motion picture.
Even though the people and events depicted are non-fiction, it’s Junger’s unique
telling of the story that makes it literary material. Junger controls the copyright and
all subsidiary rights (such as making a movie).

Other producers might make a movie
about the same maritime tragedy without buying the book rights. But the job
would be a lot more difficult. First, they
would have to document all their research – every interview, every article
– to defend themselves against a possible lawsuit by Junger and THE PERFECT
STORM’S producers. These interviews would be more difficult than you think,
because Junger probably
made contracts with the key people involved
in the story, so that they couldn’t cooperate with other writers. Finally,
the rival producers would need to come up with an original storytelling structure
that doesn’t mirror Junger’s.

It sounds difficult, but it’s not an impossible task. An example is OUTBREAK,
which was produced by Arnold Kopelson for Warner Brothers. He and producer
Lynda Obst were both trying to buy the rights to "Crisis in the Hot Zone" an
article about an ebola scare that would eventually become a best-selling novel.
Obst ended up winning the rights, but undaunted, Kopelson developed a fictionalized
version and got it into production first. The "real" version never
ended up being filmed.

Are the characters in your movie based on real people, even if the names or
some details are different? If so, you face problems of defamation, libel and
invasion of privacy, among other complications. This topic is an entire semester
in college, so I won’t try to summarize the details and defenses. But know
that you’ll have to tread carefully. For instance, Kimberly Pierce’s BOYS DON’T
CRY faced legal action from one of the women portrayed in the movie, because
the film placed her at an event she denies witnessing. And 60 Minutes reporter
Mike Wallace was none too thrilled about his depiction in THE INSIDER.

Don’t take this as saying you can never use real-life people in your story.
Just remember that it’s complicated.

After asking yourself these two questions, answer honestly: Are you adapting
events, or are you adapting a book? If the answer is the latter, you need to
option the rights.

Are you including real-life people in your story? If so, you need a plan for
addressing the potential challenges they may bring.

I hope this helps.

How does someone go about adapting a written
story to film format? Thanks.

–Sam Ruin

Probably half the movies made are adaptations of one sort or another. The
original source material might have been a novel, a short story, an article
or even a 1970’s TV show (such as "Charlie’s Angels," coming to a theater near
you November 3).

Sorry for the blatant plug. Back to the question.

The first issue you face with any adaptation is rights. The author of the
original material generally holds the copyright, which means he or she has
say over whether or not a movie can be made based on the material, and for
what price. So if you’re serious about adapting the work, you’ll want to check
with the original author’s publisher (in the "sub-rights" department)
and get contact information so you can start the process of buying or optioning
these rights. ("Optioning" is something like "leasing-to-buy," where
you pay a fraction of the money up front, with a promise to pay more later
if the movie gets made.)

It’s important to note that copyright expires, so if you’re looking at adapting
something originally written in the 1800’s, there’s a good chance the work
is considered to be "in the public domain," which means you won’t
have to secure any rights at all.

Of course, there’s a big difference between having the rights to a story and
actually having a movie to make. Adapting a story into movie form is a lot
harder than it might seem at first.

The basic problem is that movies work so differently than most fiction or
other prose.

In novels or short stories, the prose is the final product. Screenplays, on
the other hand, are blueprints. They’re a plan for making a movie, but not
the movie itself. While the author of a novel has the final say about everything
that happens in a story, the screenwriter is by default only one of many hands
in making the movie, and everyone who becomes involved with the project will
change it in one way or another. Thus the screenplay has to communicate the
overall vision for the movie, above and beyond all the details of character,
plot and theme. In short, a book is just a book, but a screenplay has to be
a story, a plan, a sales tool and a mission statement all in one.

Fiction can ramble. Screenplays have to be ruthlessly efficient.

In fiction, the author can say what a character is thinking. In movies, a
screenwriter doesn’t have that option, without resorting to some device like
a voice-over or flashback.

The reader of a book can put a book down and think about it, or flip back
a few pages if something was confusing. Sitting in the theater, the audience
doesn’t have that opportunity. The movie keeps going, 24 frames per second,
no matter what. Therefore, the screenwriter has to be extra attentive to make
certain the audience will be able to follow the story at every moment.

Finally, movies are fundamentally a visual medium, so the screenwriter has
to be able to tell the story with images. Yes, there’s sound and dialogue,
but the picture is king. In a book, the author can say what a character tastses
or smells or feels. In a movie, all the audience can experience is sight and
sound, so the screenwriter needs to communicate everything through only these
two senses.

Given these challenges, it becomes clear why adapting a book into a movie
isn’t a matter of feeding the pages into a projector. It also explains why
so many bad movies are made from good books.

So how do you begin an adaptation? The most important thing is to approach
the project as a movie, with all the strengths and limitations of the medium,
rather than as a novel or short story. Focus on the primary characters, their
goals and obstacles. Rather than trying to winnow down the source material
to fit into 120 pages, try to invite in only the elements you really need;
that is, build up rather than strip down.

And most importantly, remember that adaptation isn’t any easier than writing
a screenplay from scratch. So don’t beat yourself when certain aspect worked
in the novel but not in your script. They’re different beasts.