by Warren Adler
“How can I turn
my book into a movie? Advice from you would mean a lot.”
If I knew the
golden answer to this question I would amass a fortune. In the first place, no
one knows how to make a bestseller, nor do I believe that there is
a surefire way to engineer a bestseller amazing enough to be made into a
movie (at least not that I know of). However, what I am certain of are a few
vital steps that can’t be missed on the journey to attempting to
have your work made into a movie.
Since writing The
War of the Roses, I cannot count the amount of questions I continue
to receive from amazing fans around the world that are serious about
their writing. The hope is to get their works published, recognized, and made
into a movie. I want to share with you some of my thoughts and insights when it
comes to this one essential question: How do I get my book made into a
movie?
FIRST
THING'S FIRST—HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT ADAPTING A BOOK TO MOVIE?
Read a book you
might like, then watch the movie based on the book. The War of the Roses would
be a good choice, or Kramer vs. Kramer, All the President’s Men;
there are plenty to choose from. Also, read books, then get your hands on the
screenplay adaptations and read those. You’ll see that some adaptations are
faithful to the book, while some are completely different. Identify the story
you want to tell from the book, and then figure out how to flesh it out,
dramatize it, make it cinematic, etc…. Analyze how some of the pros did it when
they adapted material. See what they did, and how they did it. Think about what
would you do?
GO AGENT
CRAZY
You absolutely
need a good literary and Hollywood agent who understands the crossover
value of your work. Peter Lampack, who was my agent around the time that The
War of the Roses was made into a movie, was instrumental in
steering that property. It is almost impossible to sell a book to Hollywood
without a knowledgeable Hollywood agent.
FINDING AN
AGENT = RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH
Getting a
Hollywood agent, indeed, getting any agent is a tough chore. My advice has
always been to get a copy of Literary Market Place (you
can get it at any library), write a one page letter, beginning with “Are you
interested in a finished manuscript (or book),” then spell out the theme and
idea. Send it to every agent listed and see what comes back. There are several
other books and websites with agent information and contacts, such as IMDb.
Compile a list of Hollywood agents and send your manuscript to them. Review
profiles and see who would be a good fit for the subject matter of your work.
When speaking to an agent, be ready to convince them that your book can
translate into a movie. Agents are inundated with book requests, and so
one of the things they often look at is author platform—what kind of
reviews have you gotten and has your work ever been in a magazine like Paris Review, Granta, or other well-known
publications? Make sure you are being proactive when it comes to making
yourself into a writer with
some recognizable credentials. Agents are taking their chances on you just as
much as you are taking your chances on them—make them see that you have
potential.
NEGOTIATION,
CONTRACTS AND GETTING LEGAL
If you do end
up making it to the other side then get ready to put on your legal helmet.
Under no circumstances should you ever negotiate with people in the industry
such as directors and producers without a rep, agent, or a lawyer. Be cautious.
Hollywood notorious for promising the moon, and then getting material cheap or
paying nothing for it. If it’s not in writing, forget it.
Find an
entertainment lawyer who can check the legitimacy of your contract. Beware
of trying to decipher any movie contract without a good entertainment lawyer to
vet it. There is no real contract that fits all. Every deal is different. There
are a hundred ways to screw the writer out of their fair share of the proceeds,
provided there are any proceeds. It may cost you some money up front, but if
the movie succeeds you will quickly discover how any profits are frittered away
before it gets down to the writer. Also, be sure you get paid up front for the
screenplay.
HOW MUCH
CREATIVE CONTROL DO YOU HAVE OVER A FILM?
It is very rare
to get creative control over the adaptation of your book. Everything is
negotiable and always depends on how much luck or clout, or negotiating skills
you can bring to the table. Some writers have been enormously lucky. John
Irving for e.g., got to write the script for his bestselling novel The Cider
House Rules and he then went on to win the Academy Award for Best Adapted
Screenplay in 1999. Some authors even get to pick the director and have a lot
to say in the adaptation. Because motion pictures are a collaborative medium,
creative control is merely an accommodation with directors, actors,
cinematographers, editors, set designers, etc. It is impossible to be
dictatorial or autocratic in today’s moviemaking.
Generally
speaking, the writer of the novel is not the prime mover in getting a green
light. It is indeed rare that the vision of the novelist is ever properly
realized in an adaptation of his or her work. I was lucky with The War of
the Roses, which essentially caught the spirit of the book. The
payment you receive for your book might be astronomical enough for you to look
the other way and hope for the best while the moviemakers do their thing.
Still, getting a movie made from a novel is a thousand to one shot at best.
NEVER
UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF INDIE
It is true that
a bestselling author has a better chance of having their material adapted, but
despite notoriety, many book-to-film adaptations have bombed at the box office.
It is difficult to explain this reality to an eager writer who believes he or
she has created a work of genius.
While I have
been in the big tent razzle-dazzle of Hollywood productions, I am a strong
believer that the future of adaptations may lie within the little Indie tents, many
of them worldwide, spaces filled by imaginative, creative people. Indeed, the
real future for novelists may be in newer distribution models, such as Netflix,
and technology yet to come.
DON’T FEAR
REJECTION
Most of all,
never allow yourself to be crushed by rejection—a topic I have written
extensively about in On Rejection and Renewal: A Note to Aspiring Novelists. Although
I had published poems and short stories in my early twenties, I didn’t get my
first novel published until I was 45 years old. I will be 87 soon, and my
passion for producing works of the imagination will never extinguish. Keep up
the good fight.
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