Please join me in welcoming WU’s newest contributor, Julie Carrick Dalton! Julie holds a Master’s in Creative Writing and Literature from Harvard Extension School and has won several literary awards, including the 2017 William Faulkner Literary Competition. Her agent, Stacy Testa at Writers House, is currently seeking a home for her first novel. Learn more about Julie here at WU or on her website.
Do you ever get a feeling when you read a novel or memoir that this story is destined for the big screen? Maybe it’s a sweeping landscape like in Unforgiven, or an untold slice of history as in Unbroken. Or something…undefinable. You just feel it.
Like many novelists, I secretly dream about my words becoming a movie. (Don’t pretend you don’t do it too.) There’s no check list, no rule, for what kind of books successfully translate to film, but I’ve often wondered if there was some elusive quality that catapults a story from the page to the screen.
I set out on a quest to answer a single question: What makes a book a great candidate for film adaptation?
I started my search at the place where story meets its audience: The Sundance Film Festival. For ten days every January, storytellers swarm Park City, UT, with fresh movies, many of which started out as books. The film adaptations of The Virgin Suicides, last year’s acclaimed Mudbound, and 2018’s breakout The Miseducation of Cameron Post, all came out of Sundance, along with countless other book-to-film adaptations.
After a Sundance screening of The Miseducation of Cameron Post, I talked with producer Michael Clark about his movie, adapted from the novel by Emily Danforth about a teenage girl forced to go to Christian conversion therapy camp after being caught kissing another girl.
I needed to know. Why this book?
He didn’t answer right away. “I don’t know.” He paused again, then said he was moved by the characters. He appreciated the way the author treated even the antagonists with compassion and complexity. And he was drawn to the ambiguous, and somewhat unsettling, ending, which felt right for this cultural moment.
He didn’t mention anything about visuals or scenery. It was all character, story, and timing for him.
I needed more information.
I staked out a table in the Sundance Filmmakers Lodge and chatted with as many industry folks as I could. Someone must have the answer to my question, after all, this was Sundance, right?
That’s where I met Jacquill Moss, a young, up-and-coming filmmaker. When we started talking about movies, Jacquill’s eyes lit up. This is a guy who loves film. He will definitely have the answer, I thought.
When I asked him what makes a book a good candidate for adaptation, he said, “If I’m reading a good book and I can see it, if I can visualize it. But it’s about more than just visualization. You have to feel something.”
Jacquill pointed to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the novel that was adapted into Blade Runner, as his favorite book-to-film project because it delivered on the world created in the book.
“Writers should think cinematically if it helps them write, if it helps them find the ‘realness’ they are looking for,” Moss said. But, he added, it’s hard to describe what makes a novel cinematic. “You know it when you see it.”
These conversations with filmmakers fascinated me. But, I still didn’t have a clear answer to my question. I packed up, and left the Filmmakers Lodge to rethink my approach.
If anyone could help me, it was going to be Lane Shefter Bishop, CEO of Vast Entertainment. A producer and director, she has built her business on finding books and adapting them for film.
“I think, for me anyway, it’s more about a novel’s concept, idea, or story being really unique, than about whether or not it’s visually cinematic,” Lane said. “I think good candidates for adaptation deal with universal themes that a wide audience can relate to, but are very unique in some way.”
Regardless of the genre, Lane said she looks for books that can be described in succinct terms. She offered advice for novelists trying to attract the attention of producers. “Authors should remember to create a strong logline for their material, because folks in Hollywood have short attention spans,” she said. Lane is so passionate about that one-line pitch that she wrote an entire book on the subject. (Sell Your Story in a Single Sentence: Advice from the Front Lines of Hollywood.)
By this point in my investigation, I was quite confused. Michael Clark looked for characterization. Jacquill Moss wanted something he could visualize. Lane Shefter Bishop searched for succinct universal themes.
I made one more phone call. This time, I went straight to the source: a novelist whose book is currently being adapted. 
I spoke with Kathleen Barber, whose debut Are You Sleeping came out in 2017 and is already being adapted by Reese Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine. Octavia Spencer is attached to the project as well.
Kathleen told me she thinks visually when she writes. She often draws her scenes before writing them, but she did not write her novel with film in mind. I asked her if she thought the fact that she is such a visual person made her book more accessible or more appealing as a potential film project. She laughed and said no.
Yet another theory dashed.
Are You Sleeping is a psychological thriller about a women whose father’s ten-year-old murder case is revisited by a true crime podcast, threatening to derail her life. Kathleen thinks her novel attracted the attention of producers because she tapped into a cultural moment—the popularity of true crime podcasts. And—I’ll add—it’s a great story.
The producers said they were also drawn to Kathleen’s characters, particularly the quirky, memorable antagonist who I can’t wait to see on screen.
I asked Kathleen, who is deep into writing her second novel, if she thinks about film potential as she works on her new project. “It’s definitely on my mind. But it’s not in the forefront,” she said. “I’m just writing the story.”
That felt right to me. Story always comes first. But I still didn’t understand what exactly makes a book a contender for a film deal.
Maybe, I thought, that indefinable magic quality is supposed to remain a mystery.
Almost every person I spoke with gave me a different answer when I asked what made a novel a good prospect for film adaptation. But I did identify a few factors that came up over and over: original story, compelling characters, an intriguing X-factor, a vivid setting or world, a cultural moment, and, most importantly, a gut feeling.
I had been hoping for a more precise definition, something quantifiable. I may have failed in my quest, but I feel quite satisfied in my failure. In this age of listicles, How-To articles, and prescriptive bullet points, I’m glad there’s still room in the writing world for a dusting of je ne sais quoi.
There are so many exciting book-to-film projects in the pipeline right now. Personally, I’m excited for upcoming adaptations of The Mothers, Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, Are You Sleeping, The Bookseller, The Hate U Give, Boy Erased (memoir), Everything I Never Told You, and Little Fires Everywhere.
What books do I hope to see on screen in the future? Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward, Heart Spring Mountain by Robin MacArthur, Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver, The Last Policeman by Ben Winters, and The Ones We Choose by Julie Clark (release date, May 8, 2018).
Why these books? I’m not really sure.
Call it a gut feeling.
What are your favorite book-to-screen adaptations? Are there any novels you are dying to see on the big or small screen? When you write, do you imagine how a scene might look through a camera lens? Does it ever effect how or what you write? Have you already cast the lead roles in an imagined adaptation of your own book? Do tell—but I call dibs on Jessica Chastain for my novel.
About Julie Carrick Dalton
Julie Carrick Dalton is a graduate of GrubStreet’s Novel Incubator, a year-long, MFA-level novel intensive. She also holds a Master's in Creative Writing and Literature from Harvard Extension School. Her short fiction has appeared in The Charles River Review, The MacGuffin, and the anthology Turning Points: Stories About Choice and Change. As a journalist, she has published more than a thousand articles in The Boston Globe, BusinessWeek, The Hollywood Reporter, and other publications. She is the winner of the 2017 William Faulkner Literary Competition, among other literary awards. She is represented by Stacy Testa at Writers House and is currently seeking a home for her first novel. Julie also owns and operates a 100-acre farm in rural New Hampshire. When she isn't writing, you can usually find her skiing, kayaking, trying to keep up with her four kids, cooking vegetarian food, or digging in the dirt.
Julie –
Three jump to mind:
The Godfather – great acting and film-making and a screenplay that improved the story by excising parts of the book that did not work. Film much better than the book imo.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – brilliant book and a movie that featured multiple actors providing virtuoso performances. The book and the film are both incredible.
Slumdog Millionaire – the screenplay and filmmaking result in a powerful sensory and emotion-stirring big screen experience.
BTW when Jessica finishes with your movie please send her over to star as the troubled and desperately challenged young mother ‘Rachelle’ in “Nerve Damage” :-)
Yes, yes, yes! Those are fantastic films. I’ll pass your message on to Jessica and keep an eye out for “Nerve Damage.” Great title, by the way. Thanks for reading!
The obvious candidates are “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Stand By Me,” two Stephen King novellas adapted into fantastic movies. Part of that is Stephen King being a great storyteller, but an important part is _novella_. Typically, books don’t make great movies, not because the material isn’t great, but because those doing the adapting don’t know what to cut out – or how to cut it out. Shorter novellas and short stories typically make much better movies. Of course, there are exceptions (The Godfather series and Jaws, to name two), but those are far, far fewer than the flops.
This dilemma reminds me of a common writer’s dilemma (which I’d love to read an article on, btw) of how much to tell. As authors, we know the story, the twist, the mystery, et. al. We know all the secrets, but it’s often difficult – at least for me – to know how much to tell. Tell too much, you give away the twist/mystery; tell too little and you confuse the reader. That fine line is often difficult to see.
Michael, I was thinking along the same lines–how well the short story adapts to screen. The story’s all there, but there’s so much room for the visual, kind of like in the best picture books. Minority Report, The Fly, Memento come to mind in addition to King’s novellas.
Of course, there are the tomes that have become some of my favorites–Ben Hur, Gone with the Wind.
Julie, welcome to WU!! Great topic. I remember reading Kite Runner the first time and thinking this should be a movie and it is. I’d love to see Nomi Eve’s Henna House adapted to the screen. Such a gorgeous book and in the right hands, it’d be a great movie.
Thanks for the welcome, Vijaya.
Henna House has been on my radar screen for a while. One of those books I keep meaning to get hold of. You’ve inspired me to pick it up — so I can read it before it makes it to film, right? Thanks for reading!
Stand By Me and Shawshank Redemption are two of my all-time favorites. Great examples. I agree it must be difficult, when adapting a film for screen, to know what to cut. When I spoke to Michael Clark, producer of The Miseducation of Cameron Post, he told me his movie is based on ONLY the last third of the novel. For him, the first two thirds worked well as as a book, but for film purposes, the story was in the last third.
Great post, Julie.
Here’s a question (or two): Are novels bought for screen usually best selling books, or is there no correlation between books sales and movie rights? Movie rights are usually bought after the book is released, correct?
Dee Willson
Author of A Keeper’s Truth and GOT (Gift Of Travel)
This is a great question, and I’m really glad you asked. I talked about this with Lane Shefter Bishop, but I didn’t have space in the post to write about it. Lane told me that she intentionally seeks out books BEFORE they are big. Sometimes before they are published, often before they are even finished. She works with about 60 agents who alert her when they have a client with a project that she might be interested in very early in the process. A good example is DUFF, a book that Lane latched onto early and launched into a successful film. The book subsequently did really well. (I’m not suggesting the book wouldn’t have done well on it’s own without the movie.) But many other films are optioned later in the process, after a book has a proven sales record.
Julie, thanks for sharing this information…and for confessing you dream of seeing your book on the big screen. :) We writers treat that dream like a dirty secret, I suppose because it’s such a long shot or maybe to avoid sounding arrogant…as if we think our book is that good. :) I’m excited about Kathleen Barber’s upcoming novel adaptation, and I didn’t realize Celeste Ng’s books are heading to the screen, although I can see why. You’ve listed a few other titles I’m going to check into. Great post!
Thanks so much for reading! As I look through the comments, I’m also adding a bunch of books to my TBR pile, too.
As agent, I’ve delivered countless pitches to producers. Here’s what I’ve noticed lights up their faces:
A story premise with intrigue, which is to say that presents inherent puzzles, contradictions, unlikely pairings or that begs questions and suggests action. How can that be? Just imagine what must be done!
Characters who are either big or must become big. (That is because movies and TV are essentiallly a medium for actors, especially stars, who want roles in which they can shine. A dash of complexity is icing.)
Twists on known story types or high heart appeal. Oh, cool! Didn’t see that coming! Awww.
Audience demographics, which are entirely different than what creates readership and which is best not pitched but left to producers to work out for themselves.
Pre-existing franchise. If you have that, you will not be pitching but listening to pitches. Best sellers fall into this category.
An unpredictable and impossible to plan personal connection to the subject matter.
Here is what producers, in my observation, do not respond to or politely tolerate: setting, style, action, reviews, “it’s just like…” or “it’s X meets Y” or “this would be perfect for…”.
Movie and TV people know their business better than we book people do. It’s also good to remember that options are many but productions are few and happen or not due to many later factors that have nothing to do with the book. Therefore, what should authors focus on?
Writing a great novel. That is always the best shot.
Let me correct something I just said. When scouts or development execs (who used to be called story editors) call to inquire about movie/TV rights, it’s almost always because of a good PW review.
And what gets that? A great novel. QED.
Thanks, Don!
I particularly like your ideas about “inherent puzzles, contradictions, unlikely pairings.” I’m a sucker for reversals and twists on tropes. And I love to be surprised — by books and films. Great tip on NOT relying on the X meets Y model for pitching a book-to-film project. I’m learning so much just from the comments to this post. Thanks for chiming in!
First, great article. Quite thought provoking.
Second, housekeeping: “women” –> “woman”.
Third, your premise: what makes a book a candidate for a good film?
Answer: it depends. On many things. Sometimes, as stated, it’s the visuals; the story is quite cinematic, begging for a visual representation. Blade Runner certainly comes to mind.
Also, a thoroughly-visualized world (one perhaps not recently seen) is important. Think Harry Potter (the novel manuscript of which, you’ll recall, was roundly rejected by all publishers for over a year; oops).
For other books, it’s not about the visuals so much as it’s about the story, the theme, the message, whether it be serious, quirky, or otherwise. Cohen Brothers films come to mind. You always know you’re going to get something wacky yet thought-provoking with them. (No Country for Old Men, for example; which, interestingly began as a screenplay, became a novel, and then became a movie; so, there are no rules; like William Goldman said: If it works, it’s right.)
And, finally, it is very much what you already stated: that unknown element which is an almost-mystical combination of cultural and strategic business synchronicities. The process of a book being written, edited, published, adapted, and the film version being produced, with the thousands of people involved (along with a lot of financial investment) is such a massive process, it’s a wonder books are published and films are produced. Yet, despite the significant resources required to do so, both are still art. And art is subjective. That, I believe, is the majority of our answer.
I love your description: “an almost-mystical combination of cultural and strategic business synchronicities.” You bring up something I didn’t touch on at all — the business side of the industry. The project has to make money.
As a filmmaker I found this to be a very instructive piece. The use of log lines are essential. Having your pitch ready for producers and execs is vital. I’ve also read Julie’s manuscript. The read let me know that she understands what she’s writing about in this article. Her book is both visually arresting and portrays intricate plotting in terms of the characterization. Additionally, I’d recently spoken with a Hollywood producer who said many of the things Julie talked about in this piece. He also found that in recent years novels had become more like screenplays in terms of the plotting.
Thanks, Des! I always appreciate the view through your lens. That’s interesting that your friend has noticed novels are strarting to read more like screenplays. I wonder if that’s because writers are thinking about film as they write, or if it’s a general trend toward tighter prose and plotting. Curious!
First off, welcome to WU, Julie! Wonderful first “conversation-starter” (which is what I feel the best WU essays are).
To answer a few of your questions, most recent book I read that I almost instantly thought should be a movie: The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah. I didn’t look until I was well into the book, to find that it’s already in the works (not just in development, but in production).
As for whether I “see” my stories as I write, I always have. From day one. For me, I don’t have a scene until I see it at least starting to play out. I suppose it’s a very cinematic approach, but I didn’t purposefully adopt it. It was instinctive for me. It’s funny, but I’ve had readers mention it as both a compliment and as criticism. Which was part of my early education as to just how subjective fiction is.
For my genre (epic fantasy), there have been a couple of recent game-changers. First, Peter Jackson’s adaption of The Lord of the Rings. Then came HBO’s adaption of Game of Thrones, which perhaps had even greater impact. I think it’s because of something Michael alludes to above. Typical fantasy stories can be tough to translate to film just because of the fantastical elements and the world-building. But then there’s the issue of scope. GoT as a limited series shattered that barrier. For better or worse, it’s sort of given all of us fantasy geeks a (slightly) more realistic reason to share in the secret dream. Up next, Lin-Manuel’s adaptation of Pat Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles. I can’t wait!
Again, welcome aboard. Thanks for your insight, and for starting a fun and interesting conversation. Looking forward to your future posts!
Hi Vaughn! I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that The Nightingale is already in the pipeline, so you may get your wish soon. According to film makers I talked with, epic fantasy and sci-fi can be hard sells, but when they are done right — Wow! (I’m a huge Game of Thrones fan.) Thanks for reading.
It was only a matter of time before you started contributing here, Julie. :) And what a thought-provoking first post!
So many great movies that started as books, but I will admit that if I’ve already read the book I’m often cautious about going to see the movie. (I will NOT go see A Wrinkle in Time.) So often they fail to capture what was magical in the book. If I haven’t read it, I’ll see the movie with no reservations.
That said, I was beyond thrilled about (and perfectly happy with) the adaptations of The Lord of the Rings and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. When I saw the first teaser trailers I had visceral physical reactions — eyes widening, mouth dropping, heart beating faster — because I was SO EXCITED. And those movies delivered because they stayed absolutely true to the books in spirit, in visuals, in most of the dialogue, in theme, in characters, etc. They seemed, to me, to be something that Tolkien and Lewis would have generally approved of.
When I write, I am always visualizing exactly how the scene would play out on the screen. Which means when I revise I have to take out a lot of stage direction! I find I spend a lot of time thinking about facial expressions and then having to decide if there is a way to describe them and then later if there is even a need to describe them, or if there’s some other way to get that information across to the reader. Nonverbal reactions are difficult in text.
And while I have mentally cast particular actors in some roles, for others I have not thought of it at all.
Oh! One I would love to see done well (but would be nervous about seeing) is All the Light We Cannot See. I adored that book.
Hi Erin! I know what you mean about being afraid of seeing a favorite book on screen. I spent hours curled up with Tolkien as a kid. The visuals of the movies only enhanced my memories of that magical feeling from my childhood. I’m also afraid to see A Wrinkle in Time, but I think I’ll go. That book meant so much to me as a little girl. I think I can’t not see it. But, yeah, I’m nervous about it.
Killers of the Flowers Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth if the FBI by David Grann. This true story depicting the tradegy of the Native American Osage tribe has never been told. Can’t wait to see it on the big screen.
I absolutely envisioned my book “Biley County” by PHHenderson, amazon.com on the big screen as I was writing.
I’ve been hearing great things about Killers of the Flower Moon too. I’m excited for the movie to come out. I heard the script is being written by Eric Roth, the same guy who did The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Forrest Gump. It’s being developed by Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio. The premise is intriguing. I really need to read it before the film comes out!
Thanks for this post!
I wanted to make two comments: First off, Emily Danforth was in my 2012 group of debut YA authors, and she’s wonderful. If you haven’t already, read her book!
Second, there was early movie interest in my own debut YA novel–so early, in fact, that the movie people had an influence on the editorial process of the novel. Their one big “MUST DO” was that the hero and antagonist had to appear TOGETHER in the big final, moment. (I had them communicating, but from afar.)
While my own movie hopes fizzled despite the rewrite (Sigh), I thought I’d pass on that tip to whomever it might benefit!
That’s interesting about the mandate that the antagonist and protagonist must be together in the final scene. I’m going to keep that in mind in the future and see how it plays out in books and films I like. There are so many rules out there. But every one of them is made to be broken by the right person at the right time. Thanks for reading!
Julie – I enjoyed your post. My first reaction was to re-examine my own first novel to decide whether it might fall into the few areas you’ve identified that work well on screen (and realized it does in at least one aspect). I’ve read similar comments to Lane’s about a “one line pitch” – makes writing a short query almost sound easy. Moreover, I enjoyed the wealth of instructive comments following your article. Good luck with your novel. You’re clearly already an accomplished writer in your day job.
Hi Jerold. Thanks for reading! I used Lane’s book when I was pitching my novel and found it really helpful. I used the hook I created using Lane’s ideas in my query letters to agents and in my in-person pitches. Working on that one-liner helped me distill what my story was really about, and how to talk about it.
One of my favorite books-to-movie adaptations is Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. It was an ambitious adaptation that clocked in at 3 hours long. The book is basically 6 linked shorter stories so that is 30 min a story. Its not a book that I would think would be a good movie but there were able to juxtapose the stories well enough that it really added to the experience.
One item that wasn’t mentioned is that lots of books nowadays are being made into TV shows which might fit the longer book format better. Think Game of Thrones, The Magicians and Altered Carbon. With Netflix making 21749724 original shows each year that could be a new outlet for adaptations
Hello!
Sometimes the movie versions are different from the books. But, that’s understandable, for the most part.
Some of my favorite movies from book adaptations are:
The Shining, American History X, The Razor’s Edge (Bill Murray), Jaws, The Exorcist, The Silence of the Lambs, The Road, Blade Runner, The Sheltering Sky, and some Merchant-Ivory films.
I read a book called The Furies by Mark Alpert that I think would make a great movie and graphic novel. (So would his YA series.) Why hasn’t it been filmed yet? I don’t know.
Great post and discussion-starter, Julie. One movie adaptation that I love is The English Patient. I’d already read Michael Ondaatje’s book and thought it would be difficult to make into a film. Cramming every plot point into a two-hour film would be impossible.
In interviews with Ondaatje and Anthony Minghella I learned that Minghella worked closely with the author to focus on what was essential in the story, and therefore what could be safely left out. His decision to layer the love stories over the basic theme of nationalism (its comforts, its dangers, its illusions) made for an brilliant film–and one that Ondaatje approved of, a rare accomplishment. Many authors are disappointed by the Hollywoodisation of their work.
Of course, there were some things that I loved in the book that didn’t make it into the film, but I could see that they would not have fit the film’s arc.