The challenges of adaptation
Many people will say that an adaptation requires the original story to be simplified. But when a adaptation is truely good, the right word is refined. The true art of adaptation is to conserve the core and quality of the original story - and ideally enhance it.
For those of you unfamiliar with the screenplay format I'd like to point out that it rarely consists of more than 25.000 word. The avarage novel, on the other hand, rarely uses less than 60.000 words. The novel in question here, Clan of the Horses, consists of 114.000 words - and in order to succeed with an adaptation, something's gotta give...
Manuscript vs screenplay. This is were we decide which film we are going to make. |
First producer meeting (October 25th 2011)
After the first meeting and read through with the producer I have four pages of hand written notes to guide me in the process of writing the next draft.
We both agree that the structure is more or less in place, and when it comes to writing screenplays the gurus of the screen trade will tell you that there are only three things that really counts in the art of writing a screenplay, namely: Structure, structure, structure.
Personally I see it differently. A screenplay must have structure, that is beyond debate, but it also needs soul. Without soul it will only be an empty construction. It is like building an empty house. And an empty house can never be a home. You need people for that.
The notes from the producer are very valuable to me, because his eys are both professional and fresh. His overall conclusion is also important to me:
Original story, with many magnificent scenes, but the script as such is too long (reduction estimated to between 10 and 20 pages) and the relationship between the characters (the soul) must be nuanced.
The art of adjusting one's ambitions
My first ambition was to keep the book intact through the adaptation process, and I have used the better part of the last twelve months to adjust that ambition. Having worked in the film industry since 1999, I know all too well that the story from my novel will have to be told in a very different manner in order to make it work on the silver screen. We are not going to produce a book in a screen format, we are going to produce a film based on the core of the original story. This simple fact will inevitably force us to make some unpleasant choices, but in the end it will also result in a better movie.
Samples from the adaptation process
In the novel I have eight main characters. In the screenplay I have reduced them to five. Some characters are omitted, some are "blended" into the remaining characters; by taking over important lines and actions needed for the story. Other characters are extended, to help us understand the protagonist and her struggle, turning her inner monologue to visible and understandable action.
I have reduced the original story by about 70 % when it comes to amount of words, but the screenplay is still too long. The upcoming rewrite is going to hurt, in other words. There are no easy choices left, but that is also the real beauty when it comes to scriptwriting. Every single scene must be reassessed in terms of improvement or deletion. I really look forward to this part of the writing process. This is were the search for real gold begins... and where your dearest darlings get killed.