I’m often asked what I look for when I evaluate books for the movie biz.
First and foremost, I look for the elements that are important to my employers–things that they are specifically looking for in terms of genre, execution, etcetera. I read for a couple of different places, and each has a slightly different mandate.
In general, in order for a book to become a movie it has to have a strong, forward-moving plot line, and a premise that you can easily picture on a poster or in a TV ad campaign. Deal killers are:
1) The story has been done before
2) The concept is “soft”–takes too long to explain because it has a lot of nuance. This is also called “execution dependent.” The Hours is a prime example of this. Generally speaking, you can only get away with a soft concept when the book is a bestseller.
3) The story is small, meaning the stakes don’t feel like they matter very much or that the obstacles seem easily surmountable.
If you have read a book and think you have what it takes to turn it into a movie–
DO NOT START WRITING.
It is imperative that you obtain the film rights to the book before you begin the adaptation.
“But Superfast Reader, what if I write it so good that the movie people just have to have it?”
The answer to that is litigation.
If the rights have already been taken, not only will no one read your script, they might actually take legal action against you to stop you from writing (and the law would be on their side). In the case of Writers’ Guild credit arbitration, which determines, in the case of multiple writers, who contributed what elements to a screenplay, only writers hired by the rights-holder will be considered. So if you think one of your ideas ended up in the movie, you’re basically out of luck–unless you know for sure that someone at that company read your script and stole your idea. These kinds of lawsuits do happen, but they are very costly to bring to court. And because of high-profile story-stealing cases like Coming to America, studios, financiers, and production companies are on their guard. Nobody, and I mean nobody, in their right mind will touch your script for their with a 10-foot pole.
If the rights aren’t available, you might think that you should write the screenplay to prove that the book would make a great movie, enticing a moneybags to option the book for you. Here, you run the risk of losing the book to someone else, which would take you back into the nightmare of the 1st situation. You’re just setting yourself up for heartbreak.
To find out rights availability for a book, the official route is to call the publisher and ask to speak to “Subsidiary Rights.” More than likely, you will get a recording requesting that you fax or email a request. Some publishers have this information on their websites as well. You are inquiring about the film rights, and in your letter you must also establish why they should give you this information. If they don’t deem you a legitimate candidate, they might never, ever respond to you.
The good news is that many writers have websites and allow you to contact them directly. Your best bet, if you really fall in love with a book, is to make your case directly to the author, and get him on your side. If you’re lucky, you’ll hit it off and she’ll option her book to you. Now you have the legal right to shop the book around, write the screenplay, and make the movie.
Last night’s work read was the new book by a best-selling author who I just really don’t get at all. His books are way too weird for me, and this was no exception.
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28 responses so far ↓
1 Wesley Dumont // Mar 31, 2007 at 11:44 am
There’s no money in doing adaptation, I don’t think you should be encouraging folks, Superfast.
2 reading is my superpower | What It's All About // Jun 29, 2007 at 8:29 am
[...] Structure, Time and the First Person How to Turn a Book Into a Movie Why I Like Fantasy and Science Fiction How to Skim–and [...]
3 Koba Jabanishvili (Kopale) // Jul 20, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Hello everybody,
It’s great pleasure for me to find this topic. I’m a new author who really would like to turn his book into a movie. I think it would make a good movie.
Can anyone tell me where I can find the people who can help me?
If someone knows, please, contact me back:
kopale777@yahoo.com
4 Koba Jabanishvili (Kopale) // Jul 20, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Any answer will be very helpful for me, so if you know something about turning a book into a movie, contact me back.
Blessings,
Kopale
5 Superfast Reader // Jul 20, 2007 at 6:32 pm
Hi there & welcome to Reading is my Superpower.
In order to gt your book made into a movie, you’ll need to get it into the right hands. The best way to do this is through an agent. You might want to send out information on your book to some agents who specialize in shopping books for film. This is the best resource for contact info:
http://www.writersstore.com/pr.....ts_id=1102
Good luck!
6 Koba Jabanishvili (Kopale) // Jul 20, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Thank you very much for your answer….
I’m sorry but I have one more question:
Do I have to find some ordinary literary agent or there are some special literary agents who provide the service to sell book rights to movie makers?
Sincerely,
J.K. Kopale
and thank you very much one more time!
7 Superfast Reader // Jul 20, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Some literary agents also sell books, and there are also specialized book agents that just shop books for film.
8 Koba Jabanishvili (Kopale) // Jul 20, 2007 at 9:41 pm
ou, ok….
Thank you very much for your answers!!! They were really helpful.
I’ll try to find some agent who shops books for film…
Thank you
Blessings,
Kopale
9 Mopelola // Jan 4, 2008 at 11:43 am
I am almost finishing a novel based on the trauma most single african women on marital issues. I am hoping that the book will be turned into a film after its publication and needed some information on that.
10 Superfast Reader // Jan 4, 2008 at 11:53 am
what’s the book?
11 Aaron Johnson // Apr 7, 2008 at 9:46 am
There’s a lot of good information here. I was a manager/producer for a book publishing company and would love to help authors find ways to turn books into film. Currently I’m working with an actor/writer/director/producer in LA who has ties to the industry and we are looking for projects. I’m also a screenwriter and working with several authors on projects coaching and consulting.
12 Superfast Reader // Apr 7, 2008 at 10:23 am
very cool!
13 Kopale // Apr 7, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Dear Mr. Johnson,
It was very intriguing to read your comment. I have already added you on my myspace page. I had self-published my novel Destroyed Love, and now I finished my new children’s book Bobby Scout. I’m looking for a literary agency for my new book.
Let me show you the part of the query letter that I have already prepared for the Bobby Scout and please, let me know what you think about it? Can someone work on it to make a movie from it?
“The book is completed and I plan to start working on the next series of it soon. The first series of the Bobby Scout is called The Friendship Chain. To my opinion, this will be the book for the reader of any age-groups; however it must be especially interesting for fourteen and fifteen year-old kids.
Let me tell you more about Bobby Scout – The Friendship Chain:
A new dimensional world out of time and out of space, the Timespace, is captured by the lord of dragons, the Goloxius. The existence of civilization on the earth is in danger. The secret organization called the Elder Council is seeking for a new hero who will lead the last representative of the Spovel Eagles to the victory over the Goloxius. Only this hero, together with the eagle, can defeat the evil; soon, based on the efforts of the Elder Council, along comes the new hero, Bobby Scout, fifteen years old boy from the XXI century of the Bibran civilization. His amazing adventure starts after he visits the Republic of Georgia as an American boy scout. In the international scouting camp he makes friends with two Georgian and Russian boy scouts. The three friends in the camp give each other a promise to be friends and brothers forever and fight to secure the freedom on the earth.
Besides of the mysterious and funny adventure, the book bears an educative nature for those who want to learn more about foreign cultures. As far as I know, the Bobby Scout is the first children’s book based on international friendship and Scouts Law experience; I think this mixture of scouting rules and different cultures enhanced with exciting adventures of young men will be truly enjoyable for the scouts all over the world.
The vocabulary at the end of the book provides definitions of foreign terminology and historical places that are used in the book.
I drew up the version of the front-cover design of the book myself as well. I think it expresses the content of the book in the best manner and it may be very helpful for a publisher as well.
I have published three poetry and children’s short-story books in the Republic of Georgia before. I had my first novel Destroyed Love published in the United States of America two years ago. Besides, lots of poems have been published in different magazines and books in the United States, such as the Anthology of American Poets, the Marquee, the Whispers - A Collection of Short Works, etc. I hold the Deed of Honor for winning the Literature Contest administered by The Humanitarian - Economical Institute of Georgia. Currently I’m attending the webinars on publishing and book-marketing given by Brian Jud, the book marketing expert from Book Marketing Works.
The idea to write a new children’s book based on the Scouts Law came in my mind while in the scouting camp in Georgia. Later on I developed a plot of the story while being on a student exchange program in Missouri, the United States. There Russian exchange student and his friend from the student hosting family became my best friends. That’s how American and Russian boys, Bobby and Vitaly, became the key characters of the Bobby Scout.”
This is about Bobby Scout, but I would be very happy if someone would make a movie on Destroyed Love….
Please, let me know if you can help me, or if you have any advices…
Respectfully,
Koba Jabanishvili (Kopale)
kopale777@yahoo.com
bobby.scout@yahoo.com
14 fran // Jun 8, 2008 at 8:10 pm
If you read the new book,
He Holds The Sparrow, on line Barnes and Noble.com, and you feel it is movie material I am the author and I’m accepting investors.
blessings, fran grubb
15 fran // Jun 12, 2008 at 6:47 pm
He Holds The Sparrow for sale on line at Barnes and Noble is “A movie in the making.” From the start when Frances runs bare foot to hop a freight car in the dark of night on top of a Virginia Mountain, you just know that this is going to be a book that you won’t ever forget.
16 michael overby // Jul 12, 2008 at 6:03 am
my book was published august 2007 by publish america. it is now for sale at bn.com (barnes and noble). it is called A Stranger To This World by michael “yogi” Overby. i think it would make a great movie but dont know how to get it started. you can checkout what the story is about (horror/suspense) at bn.com or authortree.com. thanks for your help.
17 AJ // Jul 12, 2008 at 7:32 am
If you own the rights to the book, write the screenplay or hire someone and try to find a producer to produce it. If the publisher owns the rights try to get a contract to write the screenplay. You have to at least start there. A movie can’t be made without a screenplay.
18 Sandy Winnette // Aug 11, 2008 at 6:29 pm
I just happened upon this site. I have a children’s book and would love to speak with someone who would like to guide my story into a short movie or tv show and more.
The book just came out on a self publish. I have my press lease ready.
Anybody interested in a story no one has done?
817-268-5544
My book is on http://www.sandywinnetteauthor.com
19 Sandy Winnette // Aug 11, 2008 at 6:31 pm
I just happened upon this site. I have a children’s book and would love to speak with someone who would like to guide my story into a short movie or tv show and more.
The book just came out on a self publish. I have my press release ready.
Anybody interested in a story no one has done?
817-268-5544
My book is on http://www.sandywinnetteauthor.com
20 SUSAN D NEW // Aug 29, 2008 at 7:23 pm
I have a wonderful children’s book titled: Pat Pat the Angel, Adventures in West Heaven that would be a wonderful animated movie. If anyone is interested please view on my web site at http://www.xlibris.com/PatPatt.....eaven/html
21 SUSAN D NEW // Aug 29, 2008 at 7:28 pm
I have a wonderful children’s book titled: Pat Pat the Angel, Adventures in West Heaven that would make a wonderful animated movie. The story has great characters like a mischevious squirrel named Rocky, a sweet horse named Apache and a cuddlely possum in a camoflage shirt named Georgie. If interested please view on http://www.xlibris.com/PatPatt.....eaven/html or contact me directly at 757-242-4804
22 Carol Denise Mitchell // Sep 6, 2008 at 6:37 pm
My book “What Happened to Suzy” will be a gem for the Film maker who is lucky enough to offer the first deal and the story will put an end to criminal abuse of innocent children like Suzy. I am on a mission to find the next Speilberg to make this book into the movie it derserves. More than one person has called this book the best autobiography ever made…A reviewer from IP said the following about my incredible, tumultuous journey from a childhood that lead me to many opportunities for death; but, I survived it all! Yet, nobody should ever experience what happened to suzy. Hold on!
What Happened to Suzy
By Carol Denise Mitchell
Strategic Book Publishing
252 Pages
When I first heard the title, What Happened to Suzy, by Carol Denise Mitchell, I immediately thought it was a mystery. In many ways, it is! The mystery is how Suzy is alive today! What Happened to Suzy is one of the most amazing books I’ve had the honor to read. Fiction, based upon a true story, it is published as fiction only because names, places and dates had to be changed to protect those involved. For the majority of this book, you will not be able to believe it is true—in fact many will pray that it is not!
Suzy’s real name is Carol Denise Charles. Her mother started calling her Suzy and many worse names when she was very small. Carol was one of sixteen children, but for some unknown reason, it was very clear that her mother’s animosity and anger against Suzy was beyond any for her other children. It was only from her grandmother, Mamus, pronounced (Mom-us) that Carol was able to find love and learn about God. But Mamus died when Carol was just 10 years old and Mamus had earlier only helped the children on the weekends. She and her siblings were physically, mentally, and emotionally abused their entire young lives.
With a father who was abusive and absent except coming home occasionally to create another baby, Suzy’s mother in many ways was a strong woman who kept her family from the ghetto, worked long and hard to provide a decent place to live and was devastated her entire life because one of her husbands had stolen two of her children. At the same time, it is clear that she was psychologically unable to deal with the pressures placed upon her. She presented a Jekyll/Hyde personality—and only her children saw Mr. Hyde!
Once each child reached an age of being able to handle household responsibilities, that individual was forced into “hard labor.” Her oldest son, however, was the love of her life and was given the responsibility to care for the other children and supported him when he ordered all the younger children to the boys’ room. What happened in that room can only be read to begin to understand—and none of the children knew to call it what it really waschild abuse.
The physical abuse Suzy endured resulted in much evidence. When she started to school, most of her hair was gone and there were scabs and sores everywhere. All of the children, except one young boy, called her The Blob. Dan was his name and Suzy and Dan realized a mutual friendship, however, Suzy knew that Dan would also be ostracized if he befriended Suzy…and she understood that and lived on the memory of her first boy friend.
Once Suzy thought she had a new girlfriend; she was betrayed and was almost burned alive! Unbelievably Suzy’s intelligence was above average and her grades fluctuated greatly, only going down during periods of abusive behavior at both home and school.
The first amazing event occurred when, at 17, Suzy had been able to maintain and develop sufficient self-esteem to enter a local beauty contest, be selected as a finalist, and win the Miss Congeniality Award! She had won the college scholarship for which she had entered the contest. Her mother’s response was somewhat positive—so much so that Suzy could not believe that her mother still followed through with an earlier threat and she was forced to leave home by her 18th birthday!
It was not surprising what happened to Suzy when she was cast out on the streets with little money. The amazing thing was that she fought her away through it and never actually entered the life toward which she had been lured!
But the final amazing event was when her childhood sweetheart, Dan, one day saw her on the street—and stopped!
What Happened to Suzy is written in somewhat of a diary style and is very fast-paced. Readers will be caught up in the sorrow of the children’s abuse, and then thrill to the realization that Suzy fought her way through the pain and suffering to enter a contest that could provide her a coveted scholarship. Suzy’s time on the streets is very realistically written, so much so that you realize how different her life could have beenand yet was it? This story will speak to teenagers and adults alike. There is a bright light shining throughout Carol’s story as she is led through traumatic experience after experience that many of us cannot even begin to comprehend. Where is Suzy? She’s Gone!
I applaud the author for the courage she displays in first living and then sharing her story! Teens! Read this book and you will find Hope! Adults—if you care about children, this is a must-read! We must care and do more for the children of our country!
G. A. Bixler
For Independent Professional Book Reviewers
23 Daryle Thompson // Sep 26, 2008 at 8:03 pm
This book by Carol Denise Simms-Mitchell is the best book on the topic of abuse “EVER.” Some of the things this woman says in her book are off the hook! I read her first edition - my friend Kamela gave to me for Christmas last year. First, I thought is was just another book - until I opened it and learned the true meaning of “Never Judge a Book by its’ Cover.” This one should be sitting ontop of all the best seller list, no dope!!!
Peace out!
24 Robert Lee Douthitt III // Sep 27, 2008 at 11:58 pm
I feel my story has what it takes, based on the criteria laid out on this website. I would love to have some feedback from you the readers. I’ll respond to any comments… Thanks for your input, peace…
25 Robert Lee Douthitt III // Sep 28, 2008 at 12:03 am
Rock Bottom, The Life History of Robert Lee Douthitt III… A true real life story of survival, drugs, alcohol, prison, and back! Thank you for your support, peace… rockbottomthebook.com
26 Aaron Johnson // Sep 29, 2008 at 9:26 am
If you feel your book has what it takes to be a movie, then write the script. Need help writing the script? We can help!! Actor/Producer/Director/Writer Tom Wright and I have a script service assisting authors in writing their scripts. Visit our site at http://www.myspace.com/scriptcac for more details.
Step Forward
27 Lorraine Kember // Oct 3, 2008 at 8:09 pm
My book ‘Lean on Me’ is a true story of my husband’s courageous battle with mesothelioma (asbestos related cancer) and of my emotional journey as I cared for him and improved the quality of his life. Many excerpts from my personal diary in which I wrote daily throughout the 2 years of my husband’s illness are featured throughout the book and give ample matierial for writing a great script. My story is above all - a love story which demonstrates the true meaning of love and the strength of the human spirit. It would make a wonderful movie and be an inspiration for anyone whose lives have been touched by cancer of any kind. If anyone knows how I may pitch my story to a film maker I would be most appreciative.
28 D'Marie // Oct 5, 2008 at 2:50 pm
I have written and self published a heart wrenching novel that depicts a survivor of domestic violence as she catastrophically falls into the arms of Mr. Right, but baggage from her past as well as her excitement and awe at her own independence, not to mention the murder mystery across the street from her office in Music City USA, causes her to wonder if she will ever be the warm and caring companion that she thinks she is capable of being. The book ends in an unanticipated cliff hanger, with book #2 well on the way. As a movie, audiences would find themselves sharing the rollercoaster of emotions that the leading characters find themselves swept up into. A must see, made-for-movie presentation. Anyone interested should contact me at the email address listed. See you at the movies!
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