Is Your Novel Ready for a Film Adaptation? How to Know If Your Story Is Viable for the Screen (Part 1)

From Edie: Discover the key criteria that determine whether your novel is a strong candidate for film adaptation. Learn how to evaluate story structure, genre, marketability, and budget considerations to decide if your book is truly viable for the screen.

Is Your Novel Ready for a Film Adaptation? How to Know If Your Story Is Viable for the Screen (Part 1)

by Zena Dell Lowe @ZenaDellLowe

Book-to-film adaptations are everywhere right now. Between the rise of streaming platforms, independent studios, faith-based production companies, and the success of projects like The Chosen, more writers are asking the same question:

“Should I adapt my novel into a screenplay—and if so, how do I get it made into a movie?”

Since these are two different questions, we’ll treat them separately. In part two, I’ll walk you through the practical steps to get a screenplay made. But before you can implement any of that, you first have to determine whether your story is a viable candidate for adaptation.

So, before you invest months (or years) in adaptation, here are four major things to consider.

1. The Wrong Reason to Adapt Your Novel

Let’s start with a hard but necessary boundary:

If the primary reason you want to adapt your novel is because you couldn’t get it traditionally published, the answer is no.

If the book market did not consider the manuscript ready for publication, Hollywood is not going to invest millions of dollars to fix the same story. Film is a far more expensive, risk-averse medium than publishing.

If your novel isn’t gaining traction, the solution is not to change formats—it's to strengthen the story.

2. When Adaptation Makes Sense

From a producer’s perspective, every project is a financial risk. They want evidence that a story can find and hold an audience. Adaptation is far more viable when a novel has:

• Traditional publication (strongest foundation)
• Positive reviews, awards, or strong endorsements
• A clear, marketable genre
• An existing audience or fanbase

Self-published books are not automatically disqualified, but it is much harder to convince a producer that a story is worth adapting if no one outside the author has validated its commercial potential. Put simply, the more proven your book is in the publishing world, the more viable it becomes in the film world.

3. Is Your Story Cinematic and Movie-worthy?

Not every great novel makes a great film. Books are driven by language and interiority; films are driven by images, action, and behavior.

If your story relies heavily on internal monologue or introspection to reveal transformation, those elements usually won’t translate directly to screen without major restructuring.

Your story is a better candidate for adaptation if it includes a protagonist with a clear, external goal. You also need conflict that escalates visually, and strong scenes that can be told through action and subtext. Another consideration is length. Can your story be told well within a 2-hour feature timeframe? If not, you may be looking at a limited series, which requires even more time, development, and structural mastery.

You also need to make sure you’re writing a genre that adapts well. In general, thrillers, horror, romance, and true or inspirational stories with external stakes are the most adaptable.

Genres that often struggle:

• Quiet, internal, literary fiction
• Theme-driven narratives without a strong plot spine
• Stories where “nothing really happens,” except inside a character’s head

4. Budget Matters (A Lot)

One of the biggest mistakes novelists make is ignoring the financial cost of their story.

Period pieces, epic fantasies, and large-scale historical dramas often require expensive costumes and production design, exotic locations, large casts, battle sequences, and/or visual effects. And every one of these is expensive.

That doesn’t mean these adaptations are impossible. But unless a story has a massive audience or existing momentum, producers will think twice before acquiring something that could require a $30–$100 million budget when there are strong contemporary stories that can be filmed for far less. Hollywood thinks in dollars, not pages.

Sometimes the question isn’t, “Is my story good enough?” but rather, “Is my story financially realistic to produce?”

Conclusion:

So, should you adapt your novel into a screenplay? It’s a wonderful dream—and absolutely possible for the right story. But adaptation is not a shortcut around publishing or an easier route into the entertainment industry. In many cases, it requires even more time, pressure, and persistence than getting traditionally published.

That said, if your story seems like a viable candidate based on these four evaluative criteria, then buckle up, because next time I’ll break down the practical steps that need to be taken to pursue that path.

Until then, keep on writing! Your story matters.

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Zena has worked professionally in the entertainment industry for over 20 years as a writer, producer, director, actress, and story consultant. Zena also teaches advanced classes on writing all over the country. As a writer, Zena has won numerous awards for her work. She also has several feature film projects in development through her independent production company, Mission Ranch Films. In addition to her work as a filmmaker, Zena launched The Storyteller’s Mission with Zena Dell Lowe, a podcast designed to serve the whole artist, not just focus on craft. In 2021, Zena launched The Storyteller’s Mission Online Platform, where she offers advanced classes and other key services to writers. Zena loves story and loves to support storytellers. Her passion is to equip artists of all levels to achieve excellence at their craft, so that they will truly have everything they need to change the world for the better through story.

To find out more about Zena or her current courses and projects, check out her websites at WWW.MISSIONRANCHFILMS.COM and WWW.THESTORYTELLERSMISSION.COM