Film Adaptations of Books - How Do They Do It? - Lizzie Chan

Have you ever wondered how on earth do they adapt those 300 pages of your favourite book into 90 minutes on screen? Well, leave the sleuthing to Lizzie Chan, a geeky girl who spends her time reading through dusty books and watching movies (while gawking at film adaptations on the sideline) for she intends to dig the dirt out of the mysteries of screenplays in this week's column.

With the pros and cons of film adaptations aside, (read last week's article "Are Film Adaptations of Books a Good Thing?) we will be getting down and dirty to the basics this time by focusing on fundamental elements that make a film adaptation great. There are many factors that contribute to a successful adaptation but one of the most important components out of the bunch is screenplay or more popularly known as script.

Why is script so important? Well, look it at this way. Even if you have the best plot in the world, your movie will be a flop if you have no idea which scenes to include or what the characters should say. Script writing is definitely harder than it seems because you need certain skills to enable audience to relive their fantasies and imagination on the big screen (which sadly, most of us don’t). So, how do they do that?

First and foremost, screenwriters have to sort out licensing and rights with the authors and publishers before they spew their creative script writing juices on the book they want to adapt. When that is done, they will proceed on tearing the book page by page (metaphorically of course) in order to understand the content like the back of their hand.

With sufficient emotions and comprehension abstracted from the plot, the screenwriter will then write out the major scenes that has created the most impact on them (though this is pretty subjective because some of those scenes may not be as impactful to other individuals as compared to them). Despite that, they have to do so because there is no way they can fit in every single episode, sub plots and chapters from a 300 page book into 90-120 minutes of screen time. Yes, my dear readers. As much as it hurts to say this, it is inevitable for screenwriters to pick and choose scenes to put in instead of including every single act.

After selecting the major scenes, screenwriters then begin writing the script based on their visualization of the acts. They usually do not copy and paste every dialogue from the original content because they have to perceive it separately into a movie instead of a book. Aside from that, the latter also typically carries a great amount of narrative depiction and monologues that lack conversation and action. Movies on the other hand thrive on dialogues and action.

Finally, when the writing process is done, screenwriters usually re-read their script and compare it with the book. If they feel that their work contrasts too much against the original content, they will reevaluate or even retreat to writing a new draft.

I sincerely hope this article is able to provide a better insight on how screenplays of book-to-film adaptations are written. If you feel like ripping someone’s heart out for ruining your favourite book with a disappointing film adaptation, keep in mind that those screenwriters are not fully at fault, okay?

Next Week: Top Ten Book-to-Film Adaptations of All Time