Christian Writing What would you do?

zx1ninja

zx1ninja

They call me Z.
Mar 17, 2017
3,777
717
What would you do if one of your books was picked up to make a movie out of?

Myself, even though some think my stories are border line. I'd insist the story remain relatively unchanged. Nothing altered or added that would focus it back to the world view or away from the focus of God and his nature. Even if it cost me a movie deal.
 
G

GiLGiJ

Apr 5, 2023
180
93
That's laudable, because with ownership comes responsibility. Protecting truth is dear to me.

I've heard it's hard to adapt a book to the screen, but I can't think of any reasons why there wouldn't usually be some ways to translate the meanings consistently between the mediums.
 
B

BAMB

Apr 12, 2022
26
45
I would have to insist that part of the contract was I had final say over the script and was to be consulted by the script writer along the way for the same reason you gave; I would not want the world view of the story changed. I get it when characters have to be axed or scenes cut out to get a book down to movie size, but I would insist that it had to be faithful to the overall story. I hate movies that are made by people who think "the audience doesn't want a rehash of the book, they want something new and refreshing!" No, no I don't. I want to see my favorite book and favorite characters brought to life as written, not changed into people I don't know in a story that isn't even close to the original!
 
Johne

Johne

Senior Member
Staff member
Sep 27, 2005
3,740
1,787
Jeff Potts said:
Take all of the money I made, exchange it for one-dollar bills, throw it on my bed, and roll around in it (clothes optional).
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I think controversy between the version in the book and the version on the screen make for more book sales and the book would reflect on me while the film would reflect on the film's producers, so I'd probably hold on loosely to final script approval. (I really don't see my golem detective novel being bastardized into anything I wouldn't sign off on.)
 
Accord64

Accord64

Write well, edit often.
Oct 8, 2012
2,760
1,231
I once talked with a Hollywood producer (about 10 years ago) and he walked me through "the usual process."

First, unless your book is a runaway best seller, it's helpful to turn your book into a screenplay. That takes a different kind of writing with well established rules/format.

If you ever do get Hollywood knocking on your door, it's usually to purchase the screenplay rights. And if your name isn't Stephen King, you don't have much say on what they do with them. Even if you have written it into a screenplay, the attached director will have his/her screenplay writer rewrite it into their vision of the production. This is where plots and main characters often get tweaked. If you're lucky, your MC won't be turned into a sparkling vampire. ;)

This process once caused Tom Clancy to harshly declare: "Selling your manuscript to Hollywood is like handing your daughter over to a pimp."

So be careful what you wish for.

I'd settle for a streaming channel production. I think you'd stand a better chance of finding a production team that wants to stay true to the source material.
 
Q

quietspirit

May 29, 2018
1,729
937
When I worked in a library, I had to acquaint myself with different author's works. I enjoyed reading Nicholas Sparks' books. He was a romance writer. One book I especially enjoyed was, "A Walk to Remember". It seemed to be set in the middle to late 1950's. The plot was that this older teenaged boy was attracted to the daughter of the preacher in town. The boy found out she had cancer. He chose to stay with her and even marry her, knowing that she didn't have much time. ( I later read where he wrote stories based on the lives of his wife's family or his family. This book was based on his sister's life. She did have cancer)


I ran across a DVD by that same name. Hollywood changed the time frame and the thinking of the teens to match the late 1990's- early 2000's. This updating of the theme of the book ruined my watching this movie. I have not really watched any of the "modern" movies since. I can't tell you what happened to that DVD.
 
Shamrock

Shamrock

May 28, 2019
3,339
1,819
I would go for a mini series. From the those that I have watched on TV made from books the story and characters .fair better than with the film version. Maybe because there is more screen time.
 
B

BAMB

Apr 12, 2022
26
45
Shamrock said:
I would go for a mini series. From the those that I have watched on TV made from books the story and characters .fair better than with the film version. Maybe because there is more screen time.
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I think it depends on the network and the writers. I can say with absolute certainty that the Rings of Power is not even close to canon compliant for Tolkien and is changing a ton of background facts laid out in his appendences and the Silmarillion and Histories of Middle Earth.

I also have a friend who detested the Wheel of Time series because of how it changed so much.

My best friend, however, loved the Outlander TV series because it was so faithful to the original book (I'll have to take her word for it because I have neither read the books nor watched the tv show and have no desire to)

That being said, a tv mini series does have a much better chance of being able to really capture the story because the time is so much less compressed. So it comes down to being able to secure enough control that you can be sure the film version stays faithful to the books.
 
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