THE BIG PICTURE: ADAPTING YOUR BOOK OR STORY FOR THE SCREEN

Would you like to see your book, short story, or article as a movie? For many authors, this would be a dream come true, but how does it happen? I’ve always been fascinated by the adaptation process and have even visualized my novels-in-progress as feature films—with my favorite actors playing the roles of my characters, of course! So to quench my thirst for knowledge about the process, and I hope yours too, we’ve put together a fantastic issue that answers all the questions you may have about book to film adaptations and more.

Last December, I posted a list of movies made from books in 2009. It’s not a complete list by any means, but it always surprises me just how many get made and how many I didn’t know about. I compile the list every year, and every year it gets longer. There are many reasons for this growing trend, but the most apparent is that Hollywood wants to cash in on a book’s established audience. It also comes down to the excitement of the producers and directors who want to take on the project. Most are book lovers who’ve read a particular book and thought it would be perfect for a movie or telefilm (a movie made for TV). And yes, many of the books are bestsellers, but not all. Some are adapted from novels and short stories written by emerging authors. One of my favorite movies of all time, Fight Club, was adapted from Chuck Palahniuk’s debut novel when he was virtually unknown. So, as an author, how can you get your book or short story made into a film?

In this issue, we talk to screenwriters, directors, producers, filmmakers, script consultants, literary managers, film rights agents, and authors to cover every angle of the adaptation process. We also cover book trailer basics and how to format a screenplay. If you’ve ever thought about screenwriting, consider this piece of information from a feature article in this issue: “a book (at five hundred pages and $10,000) pays $20 a page while a screenplay (at one hundred twenty pages and $300,000) pays $2500 per page.” That’s quite a big difference! But you’ll also find that the authors in this issue say writing a novel is much more satisfying than writing a screenplay. 

I could go on, but I’ll let the experts speak for themselves. We have a fantastic issue filled with informative articles, industry advice, resources, and lots of takeaway—all designed to help you see the big picture.

A big, warm thank you goes out to our freelancers and staff members:

We welcome back freelancer Kerrie Flanagan and thank her for her inspiring and insightful interview with Robin Swicord. Robin is best known for her incredible screenplay adaptations of novels and short stories, including Little Women, Matilda, The Jane Austen Book Club, Memoirs of a Geisha, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. She is an absolute delight and a fantastic mentor! This interview takes you from the start of her career (over thirty years ago!) to her latest directing and screenwriting projects. Robin also shares her process for researching and writing adaptations, what it’s like to go to Oscar night, and generously gives her best advice for young screenwriters. This interview is not to miss!

Is your book a movie? Would you like to make it one? Then this article is for you! We welcome freelancers John Robert Marlow and Jacqueline Radley to the WOW! family. Make Your Book a Movie: Adapting Your Book or Story for Hollywood, a 5,500-word-plus article, is a wealth of information on the adaptation process. It covers what Hollywood is looking for, making your story film-friendly, how much you’ll get paid, the global market, having both a book and a screenplay, adapting your book or story, choosing whether to write it yourself or hire a screenwriter, and maintaining passion for the project. It includes advice from experts—producers Gale Anne Hurd and Julie Richardson, director Lesli Linka Glatter, story editor Christopher Lockhart, and screenwriter Teena Booth—whom we’d also like to thank as well. This article is definitely one to bookmark or print out.

If you’ve ever watched the Hallmark Channel or Lifetime you may have seen some of your favorite author’s novels as television movies, or telefilms. Novels by Nora Roberts, Debbie Macomber, and Patricia Cornwall are adapted for the small screen and frequently featured on these cable networks. But how do you break into this woman-friendly market? We welcome freelancer Mary Castillo to the WOW! family and thank her for her article, Coming to a TV Near You: Telefilms from Books. Mary interviews Barbara Fisher, Hallmark Channel’s senior vice president of original programming, and producer Stephanie Germain to find out what they’re looking for and how they make their decisions. She also asks literary manager Maria Ruvalcaba Hackett how authors can tap into the market.

We welcome freelancer Tara Lynne Brown and thank her for her interview with Alexandra Sokoloff, a writer of all trades. Alex began directing plays at sixteen and now adapts novels into screenplays for Fox and Sony. She’s also an accomplished novelist—her latest novel The Unseen comes out this month in paperback—and the author of Screenwriting Tricks for Authors (and Screenwriters!). In this interview, Alex discusses the unique struggles of film-to-novel adaptation versus novel-to-film projects and what barriers screenwriting imposes on writers, as well as the immense satisfaction and freedoms offered through novel writing.

If you’re an author with a published book, you probably thought you had a handle on reaching out to your audience. You may be blogging and social networking, but what about creating a book trailer? We welcome back Annette Fix and thank her for her article, Book Trailer Basics: Bring Your Story to Life. This in-depth article walks authors through the process of creating their own book trailer. It covers the different styles of book trailers you can choose from (and shows you examples), gives you tips on storyboarding and scripting, includes a checklist of dos and don’ts, and provides you with all the D.I.Y. video-making resources you need to create your masterpiece, as well as sites where you can broadcast your baby (besides YouTube!). You’ll be excited about the possibilities and have the knowledge you need to get started after reading this article!

Another option for authors is simply selling the film rights to their book. The author isn’t involved in writing the screenplay, which obviously has its drawbacks but benefits as well. To learn more about this process, we invited freelancer Sara Hodon back to interview Allison Winn-Scotch, New York Times best-selling author of The Department of Lost and Found and Time of My Life. Sara talks to Allison about her film project, what to expect when selling film rights, her latest novel The One That I Want, novel writing, and living the writing life. She also talks about freelance writing for magazines and shares her most memorable assignment—flying to the White House to interview Ari Fleisher! Allison is a writer’s writer and shares her fantastic stories and advice in this lively interview.

By now, you must be curious about screenwriting even if you’ve never thought about it before! We welcome professional script consultant and WOW! instructor Christina Hamlett to the freelancing family and thank her for her article How To Format a Screenplay 101: Putting Your Best Script Forward. Christina walks you through the basics of formatting a screenplay and explains the elements needed to craft a successful script. She also provides you with free Internet resources and examples to help you get started. If you’re new to screenwriting and want to know if it’s right for you, check out this article. Christina has a great way of explaining things in easy-to-understand language, and she even shares some humorous mistakes that newbie screenwriters make! 

If the whole idea of writing a feature-length film has you a little overwhelmed, why not try your hand at shorts? Short films are fun, artistic adventures that delve into carefully chosen subjects. We thank WOW! columnist LuAnn Schindler for her interview with Liliana Greenfield-Sanders—a filmmaker, screenwriter, director, and editor of short films that focus on women. Liliana has received numerous awards for her short films, including Ghosts of Grey Gardens, Miriam, Anna, Samantha, and Adelaide. In this interview, she shares her views on filmmaking, discusses the inspiration behind the name of her film company (Gluten Free Films), and talks shop about the screenwriting process. After reading this interview, I bet you’ll want to try your hand at shorts!

We also have a photo essay for you! This is our newest column, and the second photo essay we’ve published. As writers, we know it’s important to network with others in the industry, and one of the best ways to do that is by attending a writers’ conference. And if you’ve never been to one, you’re in luck. WOW! columnist and contributing editor Margo L. Dill takes you on a visual journey behind the scenes of the annual Missouri Writers’ Guild conference. In her essay, The Conference Experience: Without Leaving Your Chair, Margo shows you the benefits of going to a conference and what you should look for when choosing one. See what it’s like to attend workshops, pitch to agents, and network with other like-minded writers.

And if that weren’t enough, we’re proud to announce the Winter 2010 Flash Fiction Contest winners! We’d like to thank literary agent Elise Capron for judging this season’s contest. And congratulations goes to all the winners and to all those who had the courage to enter the contest as well. Enjoy reading this season’s stories!

As always, I’d like to thank WOW!’s contributing editors Margo L. Dill and Joanne Stacey for making this issue a joy to read.

Announcement

We just found out WOW! Women On Writing was selected as a Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers 2010! We’re listed in the Genre/Niche section of WD’s May/June issue on page 60 with the description, “WOW! Women On Writing: Women writers supporting women writers throughout the writing process.” This is our third year in a row and we’re thrilled. We’d like to thank all of our readers/writers for supporting us. This is a great honor for all women writers!

On to the issue...enjoy!