Q: Have
you ever adapted a novel into a screenplay? If you have, how’d you break down
the book into what you felt would translate well into the script? Also, I was
thinking about adapting one of my favorite books. Do you think this is a good
idea?
A: I’ve adapted
four novels into screenplays. (One of these I did early on just as a practice
run; the other three were paid assignments.) Here’s how I handled the last
adaptation I was assigned:
After
reading the novel, I went through it all again page by page and highlighted
everything that I felt could be successfully translated to the screenplay. If a
character did something or said something,
then it got highlighted. If a character thought something, or
if the author was providing background info that wasn't absolutely relevant
to the scene or the progression of the story, then it probably didn’t get
highlighted. (The reason I say it “probably” didn’t get highlighted is because you can oftentimes find useful material in an author’s exposition, so keep an eye
open for it.) I did this throughout the entire text of the book. Then I
wrote up a beat sheet of everything that was higlighted, breaking it all down
into separate scenes and providing a thumbnail sketch of what took place in each scene. Your "beat sheet" looked something like this:
1). Joe
arrives at work (a widget factory) and finds the office has a new receptionist.
Her name is Jane. She’s mid-20s and hot.
2).
During the course of the next few hours, Joe can’t get any work done—he’s too
busy thinking/dreaming about Jane.
3).
Later, Joe has lunch with Mike at the corner burger place. Joe can’t stop
talking about Jane. Mike says, “Forget it, bud. She’s a lesbian.” Joe asks,
“What makes you think that?” Mike says, “Because I asked her out for lunch and
she turned me down flat.”
4).
Later, as work is letting out for the day, Joe confronts Jane in the parking
lot. He shyly asks her out on a date. She accepts!
Feel free to expand on your beat sheet, including any character descriptions, dialogue, descriptive passages, notes, etc. The last novel-to-screenplay beat sheet I worked from was about 45 pages.
Remember,
novels tend to go off in several directions, veering away from the central
characters or plot. You can’t necessarily do this in a movie. In a movie you
have to stay on course, including only what
is pertinent to the “spine” of the story you’re trying to tell. Once you
have your beat sheet/outline, chip away at it a bit further, trimming it down to a
lean document—a document that will serve as a trusty road map for the story you want to tell and the screenplay you want to write.
As for
your last question: Sure, you can adapt any book you want. But if you weren't actually
paid to do it, DO NOT SHOW THE COMPLETED SCREENPLAY TO ANYONE. Seriously.
If you don’t own the rights to the book, or if
you weren't commissioned to adapt the book, you can be sued if the
script gets sent out and read by anyone.
* * *
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