Writing Information
| |
Writing Information |
|
|
|
|
Novel to Screenplay: The Challenges of Adaptation
ADAPTATION 101 Brimming with confidence, you've just signed the check purchasing the rights to adapt John Doe's fabulous, but little known novel, Lawrence of Monrovia, to screenplay form. Suddenly, panic sets in. "What was I thinking? How the devil am I going to convert this 400-page novel to a 110-page screenplay?" The answer is: "The same way you transport six elephants in a Hyundai... three in the front seat and three in the back!" Old and very bad jokes aside, how does one pour ten gallons of story into a one-gallon jug? In this article, we'll take a look at this challenge and a few others that a writer may encounter when adapting a novel to screenplay form. CHALLENGE NUMBER ONE - LENGTH Screenplays rarely run longer than 120 pages. Figuring one page of a screenplay equals one minute of film, a 120-page screenplay translates into a two-hour motion picture. Much longer than that and exhibitors lose a showing, which translates to fewer six-cent boxes of popcorn sold for $5.99 at the refreshment stand. It took the author of your source material 400 pages to tell the story. How can you possibly tell the same story in 110 pages, the ideal length for a screenplay by today's industry standards? And the answer to this question is no joke. "You can't! Don't even try!" Instead, look to capture the essence and spirit of the story. Determine the through-line and major sub-plot of the story and viciously cut everything else. By "through-line" I mean, WHO (protagonist) wants WHAT (goal), and WHO (antagonist) or WHAT (some other force) opposes him or her? It helps to pose the through-line as a question. "Will Dorothy find her way back to Kansas despite the evil Wicked Witch of the West's efforts to stop her?" The same needs to be done for the major sub-plot. "Will Dorothy's allies achieve their goals despite the danger they face as a result of their alliance?" One workable technique is to read the book, set it aside for a few weeks, and then see what you still remember of the story's through-line. After all, your goal is to excerpt the most memorable parts of the novel, and what you remember best certainly meets that criterion. In most cases, everything off the through-line or not essential to the major sub-plot has to go. Develop your outline, treatment or "beat sheet" accordingly. CHALLENGE NUMBER TWO - VOICE Many novels are written in the first person. The temptation to adapt such, using tons of voiceovers, should be resisted. While limited voiceovers can be effective when properly done, remember that audiences pay the price of admission to watch a MOTION (things moving about) PICTURE (stuff you can SEE). If they wanted to HEAR a story they'd visit their Uncle Elmer who drones on for hour upon hour about the adventures of slogging through the snow, uphill, both ways, to get to and from school when he was a kid, or perhaps they'd buy a book on tape. The old screenwriting adage, "Show, don't tell!" applies more than ever when writing an adaptation. CHALLENGE NUMBER THREE - "LONG-THINKING" Some tribes of American Indians had a word to describe those of their brethren who sat around thinking deep thoughts. Literally the word translated to, "THE DISEASE OF LONG-THINKING". Quite often, lead characters in novels suffer from this disease. "Mike knew in his heart that Judith was no good. Yet she caused such a stirring in his loins, he could think of nothing else. He feared someday he would give in to this temptation named Judith, and his surrender would surely bring about the end of his marriage!" If adapted directly, how on Earth would a director film the above? All we would SEE is Mike sitting there, "long-thinking". That is not very exciting to say the least. And as mentioned previously, voiceovers are rarely the best solution. When essential plot information is presented only in a character's thought or in the character's internal world, one solution is to give this character a sounding board, another character, to which his thoughts can be voiced aloud. Either adapt an existing character from the novel or create a new one. Of course as always, you should avoid overly obvious exposition by cloaking such dialogue in conflict, or through some other technique. Even better, figure out a way to express the character's dilemma or internal world through action in the external world. CHALLENGE NUMBER FOUR - WHAT STORY? Mark Twain is quoted as saying about Oakland, California, "There's no there, there". Similarly, some novels, even successful ones, are very shy on story and rely for the most part on style and character to create an effect. Some prose writers are so good at what they do, that their artful command of the language alone is enough to maintain reader interest. Such is never the case in screenwriting. Successfully adapting a "no-story-there" novel to screenplay form is a daunting task. One approach is to move away from direct adaptation toward, "story based upon". Use the brilliant background and characters created by the original author as a platform from which to launch a screen story. In fact, if for any reason a screenplay doesn't lend itself to screenplay form, consider moving toward a "based upon" approach, rather than attempting a direct adaptation. Congratulations! You're now an expert on adapting novels to screenplay form! Well maybe not an expert, but hopefully you have a better understanding of how to approach the subject than you did ten minutes ago. And if the subject still seems too daunting, you can always get professional help as outlined on our web page http://www.coverscript.com/adaptation.html Lynne Pembroke and Jim Kalergis About the Authors: Lynne Pembroke is a writer, poet, screenwriter and owner of Coverscript.com, with over 18 years of experience in screenwriting and screenplay analysis helping individual writers, screenwriting competitions, agents, studios, producers and script consulting companies. Services include screenplay, TV script and treatment analysis, ghostwriting, rewriting and adaptation of novel to screenplay. Jim Kalergis is a working screenwriter experienced in the art of adaptation. Visit http://www.coverscript.com for details.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Writing Your Best-Selling Non-Fiction Book Title Your struggling to sell just a few copies of your book, ebook, report or other information-based product each month?Are you stumped by the lack of response you are getting?You are positive people want your information, yet no matter how hard you try, you can't seem to tap into the flood of demand with your infoproduct.Happily, there is one simple, quick change you can make to your product that can make a massive difference to your results -- improve your book title. Top 10 Common English Goofs by Web Authors In reviewing and browsing web sites over the years, I have compiled a list of the most common misuses of English by web authors. Here they are in Letterman (reverse) order. Hero's Journey - The First Threshold Beyond three and four act story structure, lies the Hero's Journey.The Hero's Journey is the most usable story structure consisting of at least 106 stages and the template for successful contemporary stories, from Star Wars to Al Pacino Scarface to The Incredibles to War of the Worlds to The Dirty Dozen to Midnight Cowboy. Story Structure - Final Conflict Beyond three and four act story structure, lies the Hero's Journey.The Hero's Journey is the most usable story structure consisting of at least 106 stages and the template for successful contemporary stories, from Star Wars to Al Pacino Scarface to The Incredibles to War of the Worlds to The Dirty Dozen to Midnight Cowboy. Leveraging Your Writing A frequent conversation I have with my writing clients is how to best utilize their writing to gain more exposure and to create more income. If there is one thing that will accomplish both of these objectives, it's learning how to leverage your writing. Before You Write Your Book, Organize Its Parts - Part 1 If you are a serious writer who wants to publish and sell books and informational products, you need to be able to find all of its parts in a minute or less. Filing only the important parts of your book will yield fast-writing your book. The Three Cs of Writing an Excellent all Purpose Headline Since the headline is the first contact your readers have with your message, it must reach out to them. Promise them a benefit. How to Write Bad Poetry So you've decided to crown yourself with a title that a million other people (just like you (yes, just like you!)) give themselves every day. Some people believe giving yourself such a title is equivalent to, and just as beneficial monetarily, as naming yourself Queen of England. Amazing Ways Writing Articles Can Improve Your Business How to get a lot of traffic to your website FREE? Writing articles. This is one of most cost effective way to promote your website - it saves you a lot of money, in the meantime, you get a lot of valuable visitors. How To Cut the Clutter and Win Readers Most of us hate housework.Nevertheless, even the most hopeless slobs amongst us would agree that we love having a clean, organised house. Another Way to Show Your Expertise: Write a Book! Maybe you should write a book! This is not as difficult as it sounds. You're already an expert in a field by virtue of your work experience and/or academic credentials. Getting Published Is Different For Everyone: Two Paths Among Many One obvious question that can get overlooked in the process of seeking publication is, Why do you want to publish this book, article, story or poem? Most likely, the answer involves some combination of artistic or spiritual vision, desire for recognition, need to communicate an idea or body of knowledge, feeling a compelling urge to shift consciousness around a particular topic, seeing a knowledge gap in the general society and feeling called to fill it, and of course receiving a little or a lot of financial compensation for one's efforts.As writers, as creative people, it can be difficult to join the artistic and spiritual sides of what drives us with the practical and business concerns. Essay Types and Modes Youll Need to Write for College ~TYPES~You Want Us to Write What? Understanding the Task AssignedWhich academic essay writing types we use depends upon which disciplines (or classes) we write for. Each instructor or professor will assign papers that invite us to reveal in writing what we have learned/what we think about the material for that particular class:* ANALYTIC-A classic style used in art, science, history, psychology, education, and most other disciplines across the curriculum to explore and investigate an idea, process, person, action, or attitude. Characters In A Romance Novel Before you even begin writing your novel, you need to know who your characters will be. Minimally, you would want two major characters, the hero and the heroine. Do You Know How To Write English For Global Audiences? When you write for international audiences, mainly directly in English, you will need to develop an audience profile. In particular, you will have to show consistency and clarity in style/expression and you will have to be culturally sensitive. Five EASY Ways to Improve Your Business Writing Have you ever wondered why some people can make millions writing books, and others (maybe you) can't even complete a simple business letter worth reading? Sure, natural talent probably accounts for some of their writing success. But really the best-selling authors achieved that level of success by devoting serious time and effort to perfecting their craft. Creating Great Business Correspondence Obtaining the skills for writing good business correpondence is important; a job seeker needs to send customised job application letters. A secretary needs to send out an official invitation letter. Masquerading As Novel ~ Can Author's Work Convey Important Perceptions? While novels do not usually attempt to convey concepts about the need to protect ourselves, this one does. For Sale By Owners:FSBO. Freelance Feast or Famine? Sometimes a freelance writing career can feel very much like "feast or famine".At the very beginning, it's almost all famine. Save Time When You Write I'm in the process of moving from one computer to another, and one of the things I really miss so far is a good keystroke macro program.That's a program, a communication technology, that allows you to trigger long strings of text, including names and email addresses, with just a couple of keystrokes.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2007 www.Info-StoreHouse.com |
