Regarding Adaptations

Jonathan.Bentz · Jul 28, 2012

Hello. While I'm mainly working on my Ebook series for the moment, I still hold an interest in writing scripts. I had a question regarding adaptions and the film/TV industry.

It seems to me that currently, there are a great many adaptations and remakes being made, and there doesn't appear to be a slowing of this trend unlike in the past. My question is this: if you're going to pitch a spec script for either a film or a tv series, is it better to do it with an adaptation in the current climate over an original idea?

And before anyone thinks it, I'm not planning on adapting my own storylines until they're actually selling. I have something else in mind, but I just wanted to see what everyone else (particularly those with the personal knowledge) thought of this.

Waffles · Jul 28, 2012

I would spec an adaptation as a writing sample but not as something I wanted to sell. Pitching an adaptation isn't just saying "please buy my script" it's saying "please buy my script and purchase the rights for the source material."

That source material may already be owned by a production company or studio, or it may be too expensive to acquire.

nmstevens · Jul 29, 2012

Jonathan.Bentz said:
Hello. While I'm mainly working on my Ebook series for the moment, I still hold an interest in writing scripts. I had a question regarding adaptions and the film/TV industry.

It seems to me that currently, there are a great many adaptations and remakes being made, and there doesn't appear to be a slowing of this trend unlike in the past. My question is this: if you're going to pitch a spec script for either a film or a tv series, is it better to do it with an adaptation in the current climate over an original idea?

And before anyone thinks it, I'm not planning on adapting my own storylines until they're actually selling. I have something else in mind, but I just wanted to see what everyone else (particularly those with the personal knowledge) thought of this.

The only people who are in a position to pitch an adaptation of an existing property are the people who own the rights to that property.

If you were to go in and pitch a remake or a sequel to something that you don't own, all you'd get are funny looks.

First of all, if it's anything at all from television, the rights are already owned.

If it's a movie, almost certainly, the rights are already owned.

And given today's climate for remakes, rest assured that whoever owns the rights to anything that you thought about adapting into a current movie, the rights owners of "whatever it is" have also had exactly the same thought, have worked up a pitch, and tried to sell it.

And one of a few things have happened.

They weren't able to sell it. Nobody was interested, and it died.

They were able to sell it, it went into development and it died.

They were able to sell it, it went into development and it's still in development. Maybe it'll turn into a movie, maybe it won't. Things hang on in development for years, sometimes a decade or longer before they either die or (rarely) get made.

What people are looking for from an unsold writer is something new and exciting that they haven't seen before. Something that will produce buzz and get people talking about some great new script.

They don't want to see your "take" of a Gilligan's Island reboot.

NMS

Jonathan.Bentz · Jul 29, 2012

nmstevens said:
The only people who are in a position to pitch an adaptation of an existing property are the people who own the rights to that property.

If you were to go in and pitch a remake or a sequel to something that you don't own, all you'd get are funny looks.

First of all, if it's anything at all from television, the rights are already owned.

If it's a movie, almost certainly, the rights are already owned.

And given today's climate for remakes, rest assured that whoever owns the rights to anything that you thought about adapting into a current movie, the rights owners of "whatever it is" have also had exactly the same thought, have worked up a pitch, and tried to sell it.

And one of a few things have happened.

They weren't able to sell it. Nobody was interested, and it died.

They were able to sell it, it went into development and it died.

They were able to sell it, it went into development and it's still in development. Maybe it'll turn into a movie, maybe it won't. Things hang on in development for years, sometimes a decade or longer before they either die or (rarely) get made.

What people are looking for from an unsold writer is something new and exciting that they haven't seen before. Something that will produce buzz and get people talking about some great new script.

They don't want to see your "take" of a Gilligan's Island reboot.

NMS

Thanks for the info. I figured it may be something like that, just wanted to double-check. Guess I could try adapting my own storyline, since its begun selling, albeit small sales for now. THanks, NM Stevens. You've always given some darn good advice when I have questions.

K. Victoria Chase · Aug 20, 2012

Hey Jonathan!

I may not have what you would call "personal knowledge" but I attended the Romance Writers of America conference in July (don't tune me out yet, lol) and I took a class with a producer who suggested NOT adapting your book. She said pitch the actual book to producers and let them hire a famous screenwriter to adapt your material. About 85% of movies are adaptations of books (45% TV) and producers/production studios are buying rights off of reading the book and using their own writers to craft the screenplay.

Just food for thought if you wanted your ebooks to eventually get to the screen.

And this producers works in TV and film--not just adapting romance novels, in case you were wondering. ;-)

dennis7490 · Aug 20, 2012

Unless you own the rights, don't adapt. It's that's simple. Whether you adapt one of your own novels or write an original screenplay, the most important thing to do is get talent (director or actor) interested in your work. And I mean A-list talent. That will open doors. You do that by networking your butt off.

Regarding Adaptations

Jonathan.Bentz

Waffles

nmstevens

What happened?

Jonathan.Bentz

K. Victoria Chase

dennis7490