by John Robert Marlow  

Picking up where we left off last month, this Spotlight on Screenwriting breaks down the nuts and bolts of adapting a novel to screenplay form. TED's Director of Development, John Robert Marlow, gives authors the inside scoop on the creative challenges facing authors turned screenwriters, and covers everything from adapting to writing, to selling your novel-turned-screenplay.

 Is Your Book a Movie? A Crash Course in Book-to-Screen Adaptation, Part 2

CONTROL

When you write a book, you have the ultimate say on each and every word, comma, and paragraph. So long as the publisher likes your manuscript, "final cut" is yours. In Hollywood, the moment you sell your screenplay, you relinquish all control over content. Period, end of story. (Unless you're, say, JK Rowling.)

It costs a publisher maybe $50,000 to put out a new hardcover; a studio might spend $50 million on a middle-of-the road film, $250 million on something like Dark Knight-and a rumored $400 million-plus on James Cameron's Avatar. With that kind of money on the line, you bet the buyer calls the shots.

On the other hand, if you have both a book and a screenplay, and Hollywood blows the movie, you can always point to the book and say, "Look what Hollywood did to my wonderful book." And you still have something to be proud of: your book. As for the film, you can cry all the way to the bank-because you get paid regardless of how well (or poorly) the movie does.

A FUNNY THING HAPPENS

Another point to consider is this: when a publisher says "No, we don't want to publish your book," that's generally the end of it, unless the two of you agree to some sort of revision.

Assuming you or your representative have chosen an appropriate publisher (that is, one who publishes the sort of thing you're trying to sell), a turn-down or "pass" generally means that, in the publisher's opinion, something doesn't measure up-most likely the overall quality of the manuscript.

In Hollywood, a "pass" could mean the same thing-or any one of a hundred other things, none of which have anything at all to do with the quality of the script. That's because, as Chris Lockhart points out, the second question every Hollywood player asks himself (when the answer to "Is this a movie?" is "Yes!") is: "Is this a movie I want to make?"

Often, the answer will be no. Why? Perhaps the budget is too high for that particular buyer, or someone else has a similar project already in development, or your buyer just met with Tom Cruise and he wants a romantic comedy, not another action script. Or the head of the company just finished a shoot in Alaska, and wants to go someplace warm next time-and your script is set in Antarctica.

Maybe the actor whose company is reading the script is doing court-ordered community service in Los Angeles, and can't leave the country to shoot your Sumatran jungle adventure.

Point being, though most scripts are turned down because they're not good enough-good, even great scripts get passed on for other reasons. When that happens, it's not uncommon for a buyer to say, "We don't want to buy this script-but we'd like to see what else you have," or "We'd like to hire you to do something else for us."

If the writing or the story makes an impression-really makes an impression-you might be hired to flesh out a concept or a treatment, help with story development, or to do a rewrite on another script that just isn't working and no one knows why.

If the company you're dealing with is a WGA signatory-and most "real" buyers are-they must pay you no less than the WGA minimum for your work (and you must join the WGA). That comes to roundabout $50-90,000 for a full script with treatment, revision, and polish. Remember, a script is generally 100-120 pages.

Because of this, because not every script that's bought gets made, and because many scripts that are made wind up hitting the screen with later writers' names on them-there are many working screenwriters doing quite well turning out scripts that never become movies, or that do become movies but have someone else's name on them by the time they hit the screen.

Ever heard of a novelist making a few hundred grand a year writing books that aren't published?

THE HARD SELL

You should be aware that it's harder to sell a script than it is to sell a book-again because of the vast difference in production costs. When you're putting $100 million on the line, you tend to be picky-despite occasional onscreen evidence to the contrary.

ADAPTING YOUR BOOK

Once you've decided that your book should be a movie, and should be adapted into screenplay format, you have three basic choices: write it yourself, get someone else to help you, or hire someone else to write it for you. Here are the basic pros and cons of each approach...

WRITE IT YOURSELF

On the pro side, this costs you nothing but time. On the con side, it's going to take a lot of time, particularly so if you're not used to writing screenplays. The format is radically different, and so is the mindset.

Don't let that 120 pages fool you-a screenplay can be every bit as difficult as a novel to write. The challenge of the screenwriter's art is to say more with less, using fewer words to convey greater meaning.

The most difficult transition of all is going from novelist to screenwriter. This is because novelists tend to write long, and long blocks of anything-description, dialogue, even action-are the surest mark of the amateur scriptwriter. Still, given enough time-one can master both forms.

Questions that come to mind once this decision has been made:

How long is it going to take to become a good screenwriter? In many cases, the answer is years.

Is there a way to speed that up? Yes if you work with-and learn from-someone who's already there, and is also good at teaching.

Can I get a good script on the market faster? Again yes-if you work with an accomplished screenwriter, or have them write the first script for you while you work to perfect your new craft for future scripts.

CONSULT WITH SOMEONE ELSE

A second option is to consult with an experienced screenwriter or-better yet-screenwriter/novelist. This person can review your manuscript or novel with a practiced eye toward screen potential, and tell you where things stand. He or she can also suggest specific changes to consider during the adaptation.

The best route here is to find the right person (see below) and work with them to come up with a detailed outline for the screenplay. Given professional input and some flexibility on your part, this should at least provide you with a solid three-act structure, proper pacing, a relatable hero and good character arcs.

Of course, it's still up to you to make all of that work. You can check in again with your consultant every thirty pages or so to see how you're doing, and to make sure you don't wander too far astray or break some screenwriting rule you didn't know existed.

The downside here is that most screenwriters write several bad scripts before showing any real promise, and going out with (trying to sell) a not-good script-to say nothing of a bad one-often does more harm than good.

To be fair, it should be noted that very few aspiring screenwriters are working with professional guidance-which should make your learning curve faster. Still, if it takes you a long time to become a good screenwriter, those consulting fees can add up-quite possibly to the point where it would have been cheaper to hire someone else to write the script in the first place.

HIRE A SCREENWRITER

Hiring someone who knows their way around a screenplay is the fastest way to ensure quality results. WGA members are out, unless you have $50,000 or more to put on the table (WGA members are contractually forbidden to work for less; those at the top of the heap often ask-and receive-$1 million or more, typically from studios).

So how can you be sure that a probably-unproduced scriptwriter knows his (or her) stuff?

Look for someone who's been optioned by a real producer or company (as opposed to their father, sister, or uncle), or someone who's been in development with a real company or filmmaker (same caveats). If genuine industry professionals have shown strong interest in your writer's work, that puts him/her very far above the cast of thousands of would-be screenwriters.

Another thing you can look for is someone who's placed very highly in a prestigious screenwriting competition. And be warned: there are many bozo script contests, designed more to fatten the wallets of their creators than anything else. Placing highly, even winning one of these may mean little. As Lockhart says: "Hey man, you know-somebody's gotta win."

The Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting program, on the other hand, is run by the same Academy that hands out the Academy Awards. If there's one competition that matters, this would be it. Those who've placed in the top 10 have gone on to write scripts like Air Force One, Erin Brockovitch, Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, Pocohontas, Arlington Road, and 28 Days (among many others).

Ideally, you want someone who also knows what it's like to write (and adapt) a novel, because they'll have a better understanding of where you're coming from, and of what it takes to get your story from 300-plus pages to 120.

You should also be looking for someone who sees the story as you do, and is interested in keeping the story's "heart"-its most essential elements-alive and beating strongly in the new medium. Many things may need to change during the adaptation process-but the heart should remain.

This doesn't mean you should be closed to suggested alterations-only that you must know when to say enough is enough, and this is no longer the story you want to tell. Again, to help ensure that the script does reflect the tale you want to tell, work with the screenwriter to create a detailed outline before moving forward with the script itself.

This will serve as a blueprint for the finished script, ensuring that things stay on track during the writing process. Major deviations from the agreed-upon outline should be approved by you before being written.

Check in every 30 pages or so to make sure things are going as planned, and then consult again at the end, because you'll want the writer to go back and do a "polish" to tighten things up, correct the inevitable small inconsistencies, add texture, improve the occasional line, implement good ideas that came late, weed out typos, and so forth.

Most (not all, but most) screenwriters who've made some kind of progress in the industry live in Los Angeles. If they weren't here to start with, they moved here to be close to the business. Something to keep in mind when shopping for a writer.

Also keep in mind that, like everyone else, screenwriters have bills to pay. The classic amateur move is asking a writer to work for nothing up front, and a percentage of the sale price if the script sells. L.A. papers and online classifieds are littered with such offers.

As Rocky Balboa might say, "it's simple mathematics:" if the screenwriter does his own script and sells it, he gets 100% of the money. Why should he put his fabulous idea aside to work on yours-for free?

Great ideas are more common than you might think. Doing those ideas justice for the duration of a screenplay (or novel) is rare. That's what good writers are paid to do.

CREDIT

Credit is very important in Hollywood, and is generally broken down like this: screenplay (who wrote the actual words on the page), story (who thought up the story the words tell), and-in the case of scripts based upon works in another medium-source credit ("based on the book by," for example).

When it comes to screen credits, the WGA (Writers Guild of America) has the final say on scripts that fall under its jurisdiction. This includes all studio films, and most others with significant budgets. If someone else wrote your screenplay, they will be accorded screenwriting credit.

If the screenplay follows your book precisely (which has probably never happened), or you dictate every single thing that happens in the screenplay (also unlikely, especially if you're new at this), you will get sole story credit. If the screenplay incorporates elements thought up by both you and the screenwriter, you will share story credit. (Which is often good for a bonus payment, and can help you get future gigs.)

Source credit is yours and yours alone, but only if you know enough to put that clause in your contract when you option or sell the screenplay. If you don't insert that clause, you may or may not receive source credit.

And have no doubt: you want that clause. Because then every person who sees the film, whether in the theater or at home-in fact every person who even sees the trailer or the movie poster-will also see that the movie is based on your book.

A certain percentage of those people will then buy your book. And maybe your next book, too. And the one after that. This means money in your pocket.

One more word about credits. Because the buyer (typically a studio) controls the script absolutely, they're free to hire additional writers, and often do. There are many reasons for this-some good, most bad, but the point is, it happens. A lot.

And so it's entirely possible that the script will be so heavily rewritten that the WGA decides that your screenwriter will no longer receive screenwriting credit. If the same thing happens to the story, both you and your screenwriter could lose your story credits.

But you can never, ever lose your source credit. Because a source credit is not a screenwriting credit, the WGA has no jurisdiction whatsoever. If your contract says you get source credit, that's it. No power on earth can change it.

Aside from who buys your script, it's probably the only thing about the movie that is absolutely, totally, one hundred percent under your control.

Until you start directing.