Adapting a novel into a screenplay is the art and craft of transforming your great work of literature (or perhaps someone else’s) into written instructions on the making of a movie. Your book is filled with descriptions, settings, thoughts, actions, and of course people talking. The movie will be an audiovisual experience executed by various artists in various disciplines.
While screenwriting might feel like a new craft, you likely already have the necessary skill set. You simply need to hone what ultimately hits the page in accordance with movie industry formatting and structural expectations. Acting as the screenwriter for the movie adaptation helps you protect your baby for at least one further step in its feature film development process.
And then there’s the money. Advances for novels are small. Option fees can be four figures at first, renewable annually, leading to six and seven-figure screenwriting fees and performance bonuses if the adaptation is produced. Then come additional book sales when the movie is released.
A novel weighs in at around a hundred thousand words. In order to earn your screenwriting rewards, a film script has to be your best eighteen thousand words in the right format. To groom your adaptation for purchase and production, you must drill down into the Three Act Structure consistent with the film-making paradigm that producers expect.
Join Robert Blake Whitehill, who will explain the screenplay adaptation and development process in greater detail, then field your questions and comments. This will be a very informative evening.
Schooled both as a writer and as an actor, Whitehill focused on screenwriting early, even winning film festival awards. His script for U.X.O. earned him an Alfred P Sloan Fellowship award. He’s also written many highly rated episodes of Discovery/Times Channel’s The New Detectives, Daring Capers, and The Bureau. His feature script, Blue Rinse, co-written with Andrea Shane is currently under option with producer Bill Jarblum with Olympia Dukakis to star and Thom Fitzgerald to direct.
Links:
Website
www.Robertblakewhitehill.com
Amazon Author Page
https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Blake-Whitehill/e/B00979KXHU?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1608575339&sr=8-1
Facebook
www.Facebook.com/rbwhitehill
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