How Books Become Movies
by Marie Brunkhorst
Senior, 2016
Everyone should know that movie companies’ main target for ideas tend to be the fantastic writings of stories. Books have an impact on every culture, whether one is a reader or not. They teach, encourage, and inspire anybody who reads them. Since people love them so much, it’s only natural that even Hollywood big shots would love them as well; enough to reimagine them on the big screen.
However, publishing a book and producing a movie are two very different processes. Publishing books tend to have a whole selection on how an author would publish their work. Ranging from subsidy, vanity, self-published, and printed on demand, according to the website writersdigestshop.com. In more ways than one, books are easy for the public to get a hold of. For a movie to be made, there really is only one way for it to happen. And it is certainly not easy.
The first step is to pitch the movie idea to an “in” crowd. In other words, the author or anyone else who is interested in making the book into a motion picture, must grab the attention of a director, a producer, a Hollywood agent, or anybody else who may have a way to make the dream happen. This already may be difficult, because everyone has a different taste that could differ from the pitcher. So one must do their research carefully on whom they should present it to. However, if the book in question is already popular among many, then someone may come to the author and ask permission to put it on the screen themselves. It all depends on the scenario.
In any case, if the book has someone interested, it may become “optioned,” which means that it’ll be put on a list of possible movies to make. However, few options are ever made into movies.
It is wise for the author to do research on copyright, negotiation tactics and deal points, as some may claim that, as Ann Rittenberg, a literary agent, states,
“They’ll come right out and say that they get publication option on the author’s next book. Absolutely not! You have to sit on top of them and say, ‘No way.’ You have to make sure the studio’s contract doesn’t interfere with the publisher’s rights.”
Typically, authors will get paid essentially free money for their book to be optioned, despite that it might not become a movie. Usually it lasts twelve to twenty-four months, though it is possible for the author to negotiate for shorter term, depending on who they are working with.
The next step, assuming that the book was agreed to be a movie, would be writing the script. One should find a screenwriter, if they themselves aren’t one already, and preferably not just one, but it is recommended that someone may find multiple people to help with the script. Usually the author doesn’t interfere with the adaptation, because of the risk that the deal that they’ve agreed to may be jeopardized. That, and because authors usually dislike writing screenplays because it’s so much different than writing a book. Scripts aren’t as engaging.
The last step is producing the film. There needs to be talent, a target audience defined, a financial backup established and a plan that knows what it’s doing. This step will surely take the longest, as for most of the crew, it is a full-time job. Some may be fired during production, more members may be hired, and there are few who stay for the entire project. Depending on how long the movie will be depends on how many people are involved with the project.
There will need to be film crews, sound and lighting experts, stuntmen, makeup and costume professionals, actors, voice-actors if necessary, technology experts, editors, armourers if needed, art directors, construction managers, location managers, audio describers, boom operators, booking coordinators, camera operators, carpenters, casting directors, catering crews, chargehand painters, choreographers, colourists, composers, conceptual artists, console operators, DCP authors, digital image technicians, distributors, film sales agents, financial controllers, genny operators, greensmen, musical editors, animators, programmers, projectionists, property masters, storyboard artists, subtitlers, drapesmasters and many more jobs handed around to hundreds of people, as stated on creativeskillset.org.
Movies also take an excruciatingly long time to create. Almost always taking years. Harry Potter took about ten years filming all eight movies, Star Wars took three years each to make, and Toy Story took about four years to animate, waiting one year before being released in 1995.
One movie, known as The Thief and the Cobbler, originally developed in 1964, took twenty-eight years to create, because it consistently had a lack of funding, and constantly had to be put on hold. After Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a success, Warner Brothers were able to put the movie back on track, however production kept going overtime, therefore kept being passed down to director to director, then finally completed in 1993.Movies may only take an hour or two to watch, but people don’t really consider how hard people worked on them. Even movies the public belittles, such as The Care Bears Movie (released in 1995, took about four years to animate), were worked hard on during production.
Nonetheless, after a certain time period has passed, presuming that production went well, the movie will hit the theaters worldwide. Either people will come rushing to see their favorite book adaptation, or next to nobody will show show up. Motion pictures were extremely expensive to create, considering so many people hired and put time into the makings, thus why tickets are fairly expensive. Where does that leave the author?
Actually, the author receives what are known as “royalties,” which are payments to an owner of some kind for the use of property, patents, or in this case, copyrighted work, for anyone who wishes to use it for revenue. In other words, the author gains free money the more popular the adaptation becomes. Though it’s not without consequences.
For example, this type of deal is in contract form, legally binding them to the agreements that they’ve made. If the movie were to bomb, that may also hurt the author, not just because they will have less of a flow of their royalties, but since their name had been stapled onto the credits, people may be discouraged from purchasing their book.
An example would be Avatar: The Last Airbender, which perhaps was a television show, though nonetheless, an excellently written story that captured the hearts of many worldwide. The show was then, typically, grabbed for a movie option, and unfortunately for the fans, turned into one of the biggest upsets in all of cinema.
However, there are movies who did very well, such as Life of Pi, The Hunger Games, The Help, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Holes. This all depends on whom the author had made a bargain with.
Anyone can write a book and publish it. It’s not all that difficult, especially in the year of 2016. However, it takes a certain someone to make it on the big screen.
People dream of their favorite story being a reality. Who wouldn’t want the their story to become known to more people so that they may discuss it with love and pride? And whether the movie’s a flop or not, the fans will always come back to the books and cherish them even more. Admire the story even more. Books will always affect peoples’ lives. Although it’s the movies that makes living more fun.
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https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081001063056AADzcJ0
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