How do you turn your novel into a screenplay

How do you turn your novel into a screenplay

The first thing most writers attempting to adapt their novels into screenplays do is expect to put every scene from the book into the script. The two forms are uniquely different: oftentimes, the novel tells rather than shows; and a screenplay is meant to show, rather than tell. Also, books are usually read in multiple sittings. Movies are best at single sittings running 90 to 120 minutes.

What does this mean? The novel can go off on tangents and sub-plots. The novel can get expository, especially by going into its character’s head and telling what she/he is thinking. Some screenwriters try to do this via narration, and it is not an efficient nor a visual solution to the need to get across information. Therefore screenplays are at their best when they expose information and character through behavior and action.

The late film writer and director, Billy Wilder, once illustrated this by describing an older couple (back in the days before John Kennedy, when men wore hats) getting on an elevator. The doors close, they ascend, and the doors re-open at the next floor. A beautiful young woman gets on. The older man removes his hat. The wife stands there, quietly seething (why didn’t he remove his hat for me?). That scene would not likely be in a novel. Instead there might be several scenes describing an older wife slowly realizing her marriage is over, or, at least, in trouble. Pictures are worth a thousand words.

So, how do you turn your novel into a screenplay? Writer/director Francis Coppola, approached the novel of THE GODFATHER by noting in the margins of the book every scene, and whether it was needed for the film. Then he threw out the ones that weren’t necessary, kept the rest, and devised other scenes that would replace necessary information lost by dropping the first group of scenes. When he was done, and, in fact, while shooting the movie, he realized that he had no scene expressing the love of Vito (The Godfather) for his son, Michael (Vito’s choice to replace him, passing his first-born, Fredo, the expected choice). So he asked screenwriter Robert Towne (CHINATOWN) to help him by freelance-writing a scene that would fulfill that need. Towne complied, literally phoning the scene in, to be shot the next day. It was the scene where Vito tells Michael what his fears are and what to expect from their enemies, and Michael assures him he’s handling all of it. Many (including Coppola based on his Academy Awards speech) believe that scene won Coppola the Oscar.

Another approach: ask yourself whose story the novel is. Then, having determined your protagonist, determine the point in the story where he/she has been established and is set upon the path that will pose the story’s central dilemma, the problem that, once resolved, ends the story. Then determine the point at which the protagonist is at her/his lowest in contending with the dilemma. This is the moment at which the character must take some definitive action or embark on a new path that sends him or her to the ultimate resolution. Does your novel meet such description?

If so, itemize each scene in a descriptive sentence, and, again, throw out unnecessary or expository/non-visual scenes. Find visual alternatives. Lengthy scenes in the novel need to be reduced to their essence for the screenplay. Dialogue should rarely be about what the characters really want as people rarely are honest with one another. Action should always replace and/or do the job of dialogue, if possible.

A reasonably-designed screenplay should consist of about eight sequences, with multiple scenes (maybe 4–10) in each. A good target length is for 15 page sequences, with scenes in them that consist of as little as a few lines to 2–3 pages each—and almost never greater than 3 pages per scene. A longer scene is possible but should be avoided. The first 2 sequences comprise the lead-up to that moment when the newly-established protagonist sets out to resolve the problem of the story (Act 1 of a 3-Act structure). The next 4 sequences comprise the protagonist’s efforts to confront and resolve the problem, each raising the tension and/or stakes, until the protagonist has no alternative but to change his/her approach (Act 2 of a 3-Act structure). That, then, puts your screenplay into its final 2 sequences where the protagonist takes the action that will resolve (or, in the case of many tragedies, not-resolve despite everything, so that the need for the resolution is still understood by the viewer) (Act 3 of a 3-Act structure). You are in the ball-park if your design fits a structure that is roughly 25%-50%-25% for each successive act of the 3, in turn.

These numbers are all malleable, mere rules-of-thumb, and can be more numerous in sequences and scenes, and either shorter or longer than described here. It’s not a numbers game, except when it comes to overall length. Scripts in correct screenplay format should run 85 to 130 pages for standard features (action-heavy scripts run shorter; dialogue-heavy scripts run longer; an ideal script might run 100 - 105 pages. (Don’t be fooled by older movie scripts, or scripts by established writers; older scripts included camera angles that newer scripts leave out; established writers get away with lengths new writers will not).

Novels that are more episodic and/or appear almost unstructured or meandering, in nature, need someone with experience to find the screenplay within them.

Movies for the general audience need a hero or central character who is confronted with a problem, contends with it, appears to fail, and then takes effort that eventually overcomes it. Each of those phrases (“a hero… who is”, “confronted with a problem”, “contends with it”, etc.) can describe one of those sequences I described above.

All that being said, you need s story that shows its audience thrilling or dramatic things they’ve never seen before in such a way. Movie producers don’t want the same old story over and over. Neither do a audiences (even when they think they do).

Condense each chapter to a paragraph that tells you who is in the chapter and what in the characters goal, or objective that moves the story forward. No more than a quarter a page singled spaced.

That is your first pass, it is laborious, but it gives you a deeper understanding of the story, and motivations of the characters. This part will suck, and it will strip the magic of the story away.

Then at the end of that, you will have a manageable treatment of the story. Then you take those bits of paragraphs, and separated them in the first act ( basically this is who I am and what I want) second act, (all the obstacles that challenge who I am, and to getting what I want.) And finally the third act (who have I become, and how I got what I want.)

Then you cut the fat, and distill the story down to the core themes and major events. That will give you the starting point, then write the screenplay. That way fans of the book will see you care about the story, and that it is true to book, and those who love the movie will have a gain a deeper understanding when they read the book. That's how I do it, but do not waste your time unless you can secure the screen rights to the story… To do so without it is a foolish waste of your time because if you don't control the screen rights, it just a writing sample of your ability to adapt a book.

Here’s some things to consider…

Remember that one page of a Feature script or a TV script is ONE minute of screen time.

90 to 120 pages is a feature/movie script. An hour TV show is about 60 pages or less of script - needing to be a pilot and at least 5 years of episodes.

Buy script software and plug your novel story and dialog in, so it will be in the right script format. There, at the very least you will have:

1.    Scene Headings

2.    Action segments of no more than two to four sentences

3.    Character’s name with the Dialog underneath - don’t be verbose

The hardest part for us who write novels is cutting away the fluff of our story we created without any visual means - we used words.

In a script you have to see your characters as if they are actors. Most of your novel won’t be in your script - but your plot and characters will be. Their inner dialog has to be an outward action or reaction.

Is that hard, oh yeah, but there are classes and it is quite doable.

You will have to learn how to be flexible, even though at first you might kick and scream the whole way feeling like you are flailing your novel alive as you funnel it down into a viable script.

But in the end, (after you have a found a producer/and or studio who wants to do your project), you will see your novel as movies or TV shows. How fun!