How books get made into films

[Mary Hoffman]

I don't want to sound like a grumpy old author but it is really painful to get quite so much fanmail beginning "Have you ever thought of turning [insert title] into a film?"

Of course I have! We all know that it means increased exposure, increased book sales, more prestige etc etc, not to mention anything we make out of selling the film rights.

But there is a big clue in the last phrase. Writers don't make films; film-makers make films. And it costs really big bucks - millions at least of your English pounds or American dollars - so it's a film company or studio that has to want to make the film not the author.

The process is this: the publisher, agent or subagent, whoever controls the film rights, submits your book to maybe half a dozen film companies and then you wait. And wait. And wait. If you are lucky, the rights get "optioned" for a decent sum of money, which might be repeated every eighteen months till the film is made.

And then you wait. And wait. And wait.

If you are very very lucky and your book has a lot of pre-publication hype, a film studio will approach your publisher, agent or subagent before your book comes out and option to buy the rights straightaway.

You know how long it took to bring LOTR to the screen, or Narnia, and even though things are speeding up because there is better technology available now, it still takes time - look at The Golden Compass. Cases like Eragon, where the first film is out before the third book is published are very rare.

So most writers very sensibly get on with what is actually their job and write the books and try not to get beguiled by thoughts of the bigtime that comes with the films.

Philip Pullman's books have been HUGELY successful, selling in their millions but we know there won't be a second and third movie unless the first one does very well at the Box Office on both sides of the Atlantic, because the first was SO expensive to make - £76 million.

So, if you are a reader reading this, rather than a writer, please don't think that if there isn't a film of your favourite book, it is because your favourite author "hasn't thought of it" or is willfully with-holding permission.

There really isn't a darned thing the author can do about it. If you want to write to someone about it, write to New Line Cinema or Peter Jackson, or some other film studio or director, saying, "I've read this wonderful book [insert title] and I think it would make a wonderful movie." And do it in your droves.

Then you will make your author happy instead of cross and mean.

Mary

 

[D_Davis]

And what's worse is that nine times out of ten, the film versions probably shouldn't be made. Which is the case with every single one of the LOTR-me-too films. I can think of dozens upon dozens of books and authors more deserving of the film treatment than Eragon...but that's a whole other can of worms to fry.

 

[steve12553]

I don't want to sound like a grumpy old author but it is really painful to get quite so much fanmail beginning "Have you ever thought of turning [insert title] into a film?"........

Mary

You don't sound that grumpy.... but I suspect you may be preaching to the choir. Those of us who will appreceate what you have just written probably were pretty certain ahead of time. I also suspect that there are many posters who are still in the state of developement where they have yet to learn that every process has procedures that each have reasons that all take time. The other big factor is that the majority of the world is not comprised of Science Fiction and Fantasy fans and anything that is made into a really sucessfull film has to have appeal to many viewers outside the genres. The Lord of the Rings films were very sucessful on the action\adventure front aside from being good Fantasy.

 

[The Ace]

Most of the time, very badly.

 

[littlemissattitude]

There really isn't a darned thing the author can do about it. If you want to write to someone about it, write to New Line Cinema or Peter Jackson, or some other film studio or director, saying, "I've read this wonderful book [insert title] and I think it would make a wonderful movie." And do it in your droves.

And this has been known to work. Francis Ford Coppola hadn't been planning to make a film of S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders. But then a class of middle school students in my area wrote to him and asked him to do so, being as he had been voted their favorite director and Hinton's book had been voted their favorite novel. After getting their letter, he read the book, decided to make the film...and every student who signed the letter is listed in the end credits of the film.

 

[Mary Hoffman]

And this has been known to work. Francis Ford Coppola hadn't been planning to make a film of S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders. But then a class of middle school students in my area wrote to him and asked him to do so, being as he had been voted their favorite director and Hinton's book had been voted their favorite novel. After getting their letter, he read the book, decided to make the film...and every student who signed the letter is listed in the end credits of the film.

i didn't know that story - that's great! All the writer wants is that someone at a studio should actually read their book and like it enough to want to turn it into a movie. But the crucial person in the studio has to know it's there to be read.

What often happens is that the book gets sent to someone who has moved away from that studio and no-one passes it on and months pass before this is discovered and another book sent, by which time the next person has moved on etc. etc.

Mary

 

[lathark]

I think it needed to be said Mary.

Most authors would know your sentiments, conisdering not everyone earns the sort of royalties that JKR enjoys, and therefore having the 'day-job'. Aspiring writers, albeit needing the hopes and dreams of instant success, need to consider instant success might decades to happen; some mystical star alignment or something...

 

[chrispenycate]

Unless the book is very heavy on visual description, there is going to be a lot of information lost when it moves to the big screen. Actually, there is enough going on in your average short story to fill a couple of hours in a darkened room.
Which means amputating great lumps of text, simplifying out the subtleties (since the viewer can't go back and check a page) generally modifying the original work into something where only the title, the character names and, if you're really lucky, the basic message carry across. Don't blame me; I only get it once the edit is done, the second butchery after the transformation of the book into a shooting script.

Certainly there is money in movies, but if you were after maximum money for minimum work, you chose the wrong line of work. What you wanted was more people to read your books, right? The money, while useful, is more a way of saying how many readers you've got than an aim in itself. And people seeing a non representative film are hardly likely to enjoy your finely crafted, carefully prepared writing.