The Difficulties of Adapting a Beloved Book for the Screen
Without a doubt, it’s difficult to adapt a book for the screen. I’ve been burned by screen adaptations before. I’ve been impressed by screen adaptations too. I think every book fan gets a strange feeling in their stomach when a production company announces that they’re adapting a beloved book series. There’s hope and dread all intertwined because there’s a big what-if present in your mind as a reader.
While I do want to see my favorite characters come to life, I find that my love for the book diminishes when the screen interpretation does them dirty. I learned to be cautiously optimistic every time there were new adaptations for my favorite books.
Pressures to get it familiar and new
The transition from page to screen is probably the trickiest of them all. Book adaptations are one of the most common ways to make a film. Most film competitions even have a Best Adapted Screenplay category. There is a lot going on in the process of turning a book into a movie. But to cut it short, by attaining the rights to a book, you can create its movie counterpart.
This is the reason why there are so many screen adaptations of classic novels and plays such as Shakespeare (A whopping 1,705 credited movies and tv series under Shakespeare’s name.). The rights of these books are already in the public domain. Modern novels need to jump through more legal obstacles before any screen adaptation because the author owns the copyright to the story.
Why book-to-screen adaptation flops or clicks varies from each project. Some mistakes were avoidable if the people who made it just read the book. Some of the more complicated creative choices need more than a band-aid solution. Thinking about it now, there is a lot at stake to get the adaptation right. There’s pressure coming from the fans, who are the film’s most ardent supporters or opponents. There is also pressure from the production to create a blockbuster hit and make the most out of its initial funding. All of these pressures add up and choke the film before it’s even given the chance to shine.
Fragile, please handle with care
The best screen adaptations are the ones where the authors are on board. At the top of my head: Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2, The Hunger Games, and Good Omens, all had their authors involved in the film project in some capacity.
Notice the trend? It’s no wonder that these works are the ones that have remained dear to the box office and their audiences’ hearts. When you enlist the person who wrote the original material, they can help make the appropriate changes or creative choices to translate their work for the screen. Who else would know what to cut or add than the people who created it in the first place? Sadly, not all screen adaptations have given creative control to their authors. It’s a slippery slope from there.
