ADAPTATION 101Brimming with confidence, you’ve just signed
check purchasing rights to adapt John Doe’s fabulous, but little known novel, Lawrence of Monrovia, to screenplay form. Suddenly, panic sets in. “What was I thinking? How devil am I going to convert this 400-page novel to a 110-page screenplay?”
The answer is: “The same way you transport six elephants in a Hyundai… three in front seat and three in back!”
Old and very bad jokes aside, how does one pour ten gallons of story into a one-gallon jug?
In this article, we’ll take a look at this challenge and a few others that a writer may encounter when adapting a novel to screenplay form.
CHALLENGE NUMBER ONE - LENGTH Screenplays rarely run longer than 120 pages. Figuring one page of a screenplay equals one minute of film, a 120-page screenplay translates into a two-hour motion picture. Much longer than that and exhibitors lose a showing, which translates to fewer six-cent boxes of popcorn sold for $5.99 at refreshment stand. It took author of your source material 400 pages to tell story. How can you possibly tell same story in 110 pages, ideal length for a screenplay by today’s industry standards?
And answer to this question is no joke. “You can’t! Don’t even try!”
Instead, look to capture essence and spirit of story. Determine through-line and major sub-plot of story and viciously cut everything else.
By “through-line” I mean, WHO (protagonist) wants WHAT (goal), and WHO (antagonist) or WHAT (some other force) opposes him or her? It helps to pose through-line as a question.
“Will Dorothy find her way back to Kansas despite evil Wicked Witch of West’s efforts to stop her?”
The same needs to be done for major sub-plot.
“Will Dorothy’s allies achieve their goals despite danger they face as a result of their alliance?”
One workable technique is to read book, set it aside for a few weeks, and then see what you still remember of story’s through-line. After all, your goal is to excerpt most memorable parts of novel, and what you remember best certainly meets that criterion.
In most cases, everything off through-line or not essential to major sub-plot has to go. Develop your outline, treatment or “beat sheet” accordingly.
CHALLENGE NUMBER TWO - VOICE Many novels are written in first person. The temptation to adapt such, using tons of voiceovers, should be resisted. While limited voiceovers can be effective when properly done, remember that audiences pay price of admission to watch a MOTION (things moving about) PICTURE (stuff you can SEE). If they wanted to HEAR a story they’d visit their Uncle Elmer who drones on for hour upon hour about adventures of slogging through snow, uphill, both ways, to get to and from school when he was a kid, or perhaps they’d buy a book on tape.
