So You Want to Turn Your Book into a Film

By Gini Graham Scott PhD

So You Want to Turn Your Book into a Film? provides the key steps from developing your book into a film. Part I discusses assessing whether your book should be turned into a film or film series.  Then, Part II deals with how to develop a film from your book and pitch it to film producers and agents.  The chapters cover these topics:

            - Assessing your book's film or series potential

            - Some examples of doing a book to film assessment

            - Using your book assessment as a guide

            - Creating a logline and synopsis

            - Creating a treatment

            - Creating a Show Bible

            - Creating a sizzle reel

            - Writing a script or script sample

            - Pitching your film to producers and agents

            - Raising funds through sponsors and investors to produce your own film

GINI GRAHAM SCOTT, PhD is a screenplay writer, indie film producer, and TV game/reality show developer, plus a nonfiction writer who has published over 200 books, 50 for traditional publishers and 150 for her own company Changemakers Publishing. She also writes, reviews, and ghostwrites scripts and books for clients. She has written scripts for 20 feature films and has written and executive produced 10 films and TV projects.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gini Scott
• Release date: Nov 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393895756

Gini Graham Scott PhD

Gini Graham Scott is a screenplay writer, executive producer, and TV game show developer, plus a nonfiction writer who has published over 200 books, 50 for traditional publishers and 150 for her own company Changemakers Publishing. She also writes, reviews, and ghostwrites scripts and books for clients. She has written scripts for 20 feature films and has written and executive produced 11 film and TV projects. These include Me, My Dog, and I and Rescue Me, distributed by Random Media,  Driver, distributed by Gravitas Ventures, Deadly Infidelity, distributed by Green Apple,  Death’s Door, a TV series based on a co-written book. At Death’s Door, published by Rowman & Littlefield, The New Age of Aging, distributed by Factory Films, and Reversal distributed by Shami Media Group. Several other films have just been completed or are in production: Courage to Continue and Bad Relationships She has recently developed a TV series The Neanderthals Return, based on a series of books about the Neanderthals coming back into modern society. She has written and produced over 60 short films, including dramas, book and film trailers, TV show pilots, documentaries, and promotional videos.  Her IMDB resume is at http://imdb.me/ginigrahamscott. She is the author of four books on filming, including So You Want to Turn Your Book Into a Film?, The Basic Guide to Pitching, Producing, and Distributing Your Film, and The Basic Guide to Doing Your Own Film Distribution, Finding Funds for Your Film or TV Project.  and The Complete Guide to Distributing an Indie Film. She has been hired to write over two dozen scripts for clients, adapted from their novels, memoirs, or script ideas. She reviews books for their film potential and writes treatments and scripts for three major companies that publish books and promote them for authors. Her scripts include action/adventure scripts, suspense thrillers, psychological character films, and contemporary dramas.  Some recent scripts are the sci-fi suspense thrillers Brain Swap, Dead No More, Deadly Deposit, and Reverse Murder.  Other scripts include the crime action thrillers Rich and Dead and Deadly Affair; and the suspense thriller Bankrupt.

Book preview

SO YOU WANT TO TURN

YOUR BOOK INTO A FILM?

A Guide for Authors on Determining Their Book’s

Film Potential and Getting It Made and Distributed

––––––––

By Gini Graham Scott

Author of 200+ Books and 10 Feature Films, Documentaries, and TV/Film Series

SO YOU WANT TO TURN YOUR BOOK INTO A FILM?

Copyright © 2020 by Gini Graham Scott

All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

PART I: DECIDING IF YOUR BOOK WILL MAKE A GOOD FILM OR TV/FILM SERIES

CHAPTER 1: ASSESSING YOUR BOOK’S FILM OR SERIES POTENTIAL

What Is Coverage?

Main Considerations in a Book to Film Review

CHAPTER 2: EXAMPLES OF DOING A BOOK TO FILM ASSESSMENT

Reviews of Books and Scripts with Good Potential to be Films

Review of Books that Need More Development to Make a Good Film

Review of a Children’s Book that Needs to Be Expanded to Be Turned into a Film or Series

Review of a Script with a Good Premise but Bad Execution

Review of a Book with More Potential as a Series

Review of a Book that Needs More Action to Be Turned Into a Film

Review of a Film That Might Be of Limited Appeal and More Suited to a Niche Market

Review of a Book that May Have Strong Appeal Based on Current Issues If Further Developed

Review of a Book that Is Too Theoretical, Preachy, and Confusing to Make a Good Film

Review of a Book that Could Be a Film or a Series

Review of a Book with Good Possibilities though a Limited Market Due to the Subject

Review of a Book in a Unique Location with Too Much Exposition

Review of a Book Based on Real Events with the Names of Real People

Review of a Book with Strong Potential but with Too Much Detail that Needs to Be Cut

Summing Up

CHAPTER 3: USING YOUR BOOK ASSESSMENT AS A GUIDE

Responding to Your Book Assessment

The Types of Fixes You May Need to Make

PART II: DEVELOPING YOUR BOOK INTO A FILM OR TV/FILM SERIES

CHAPTER 4: CREATING A LOGLINE AND SYNOPSIS

Creating a Good Logline

Creating a Good Synopsis

CHAPTER 5: CREATING A TREATMENT

The Advantages of Creating a Treatment

How to Set Up a Treatment

CHAPTER 6: CREATING A SHOW BIBLE

What’s In a Show Bible

A Show Bible for a Film/TV Series Set in the Old South

A Show Bible for a Sci-Fi Film/TV Series Set in the Future

A Show Bible for a Documentry

CHAPTER 7: CREATING A SIZZLE REEL

What Is a Sizzle Reel

Creating a Sizzle Reel

Writing the Script

Setting Up the Script for the Narration

Selecting the Photos or Video Clips

Combining the Photos or Video Clips with the Script

Creating the Credits, Website, and Contact Information Slides

Selecting the Music Background

Putting It All Together to Create the Sizzle Reel

Exporting Your Final Video

Using Your Sizzle Reel to Promote Your Book or Film

CHAPTER 8: WRITING A SCRIPT OR SCRIPT SAMPLE

When You Need a Script

To Create a Treatment or Not

Some Key Considerations and Cautions in Turning a Book into a Script

Formatting Your Script

Copyrighting or Registering Your Script

CHAPTER 9: PITCHING YOUR FILM TO PRODUCERS AND AGENTS

Your Book/Script Is Under Consideration; Now What?

A Producer or Agent Is Interested; What’s Next?

CHAPTER 10: RAISING FUNDS THROUGH SPONSORS AND INVESTORS TO PRODUCE YOUR OWN FILM

Understanding the Process of Producing a Film

How Distribution Works

Finding the Funds to Produce Your Film

Creating a Budget for Your Film

Creating Your Business Plan

A Few Last Do’s and Don’ts in Producing Your Own Film

What to Do Next

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

INTRODUCTION

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Some of the most popular films have started out as books, including both studio produced and independent films. Some documentaries and TV or film series have also be based on or inspired by books. Some of the big box office hits that started off as books are the Harry Potter series, The Lord of the Rings, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, A Game of Thrones, The Hunger Games, The Joy Luck Club, and many many others.

So how can you turn your own book into a film or film series? Though the process is very competitive, you can increase your chances of making it happen if you know what you are doing.  So You Want to Turn Your Book into a Film is designed to show you how.

The book draws on my experience in both writing and producing a dozen films, documentaries, and TV/film series, most of them in distribution with various distributors, the others in post-production or scheduled for filming in the next six months.  I also have been writing book to film reviews for dozens of clients, as a result of working with several book publishing and promotion companies and clients finding me on the Internet.  I have also been writing treatments and scripts based on fiction and non-fiction books from clients, and creating promotional sizzle reels to help their book or script stand out. I am also written a series of Show Bibles for books that lend themselves to a series of episodes rather than a single stand-alone film.

As this book describes, there are three main approaches to getting your book turned into a film.

- You sell the film rights to your book to a producer or production company, sometimes with the help of an agent.  In this case, you usually need to already be well-known, have millions of followers, or have a book that has been a best seller. If not, producers and agents generally want to see a synopsis and script for a stand-alone film or a Show Bible with a sample script for a series.  It also helps to have a sizzle reel, another name for a book or script trailer, to draw attention to your project.

- You pitch the script or Show Bible to a producer or production company, sometimes with the help of an agent.  In this case, you normally need to have a complete script with a logline and synopsis for a stand-alone film or a Show Bible with a script for an episode for a film or TV series.  In addition, you need an effective query letter or personal connection to gain interest in your project.  Plus, as in selling film rights, it helps to have a sizzle reel to increase attention and interest.

- You create your own independent film to more quickly turn your book into a film and find a distributor.  In this case, you just need a script—no need for a query letter, Show Bible, or sizzle reel, and it can help to create a treatment or have one created for you.  This is basically an outline and description of the major scenes or plot points in the book to guide you in deciding what scenes to include in your film or episode in a series. Once you decide to produce it yourself, you need to find or put together a production team, hire a director or producer to put together the team for you. Additionally, you need to obtain the financing, usually from your own resources or friends and family when this is your first film. Normally, you need all of the money up front to pay for production.

I’ll describe each of these methods in this book, along with examples of what I have done for myself or clients.

A critical first step is determining if your book will make a good film or film/TV series.  To do this, you need to do a critical review of your book or have a film professional do this, which is what I have been doing for the last three years for dozens of clients, most referred to me by book publishing and marketing companies, and a few clients have found me over the Internet.  Thus, the first part of the book begins with doing a critical review. Then, I will discuss each of the three approaches to getting your book turned into a film.

PART I: DECIDING IF YOUR BOOK WILL MAKE A GOOD FILM OR TV/FILM SERIES

CHAPTER 1: ASSESSING YOUR BOOK’S FILM OR SERIES POTENTIAL

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Before you start pitching your book to producers or agents, create a treatment or script, and produce a film from your book, look at your book critically.  It has to make sense to turn it into a film or series, since not all books lend themselves to film production.

The consideration process is a little like analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of a script through what those in the film industry call coverage. After describing that, I’ll list some basic considerations. Then, I’ll provide some examples of book to film reviews I have done to illustrate how to analyze your book to decide.

What Is Coverage?

Script coverage summarizes and analyzes the plot of the story or the narrative for a documentary, as well as assesses the writing quality. It typically includes about 3-4 pages of detailed notes, which include the following:

an identification of the script, including the title, author, type of material—such as a feature, episode in a series, or documentary, the local, the time when the events occur (in the present or historical period), and the genre (i.e.: sci-fi, action/adventure, drama).

a logline—a one sentence summary of the story

a 1-2 page synopsis of the story, which includes the overall plot, main events, and main characters.

an assessment of the screenplay’s different components, including the concept, story structure and development, characters, dialogue, writing style; it also notes the strong points and any problem areas.

likely budget for the script

overall analysis and suggestions on how the script can be turned into a film, and whether it should be.

When this analysis is done by a professional reviewer, the reviewer will grade the script’s major categories based on the major elements—premise, storyline, characterization, dialogue, and other relevant elements - as to excellent, good, fair, or poor.  The reviewer will then typically offer a recommendation for what should happen to the film—such as recommend for production, consider as a possibility, or pass, based on these criteria:

Recommend: The reader feels the script is very strong and it should definitely be produced.

Consider: The reader feels the script has many strong points and can be developed into a good film or series, though it has certain problems that should first be resolved before it is suitable for production.

Pass: The reader feels the script is unacceptable, because it is weak in most areas and it shouldn’t be produced.

Main Considerations in a Book to Film Review

Here are some things to think about as to whether your book will work as a film or film series.

1) How many main characters are there?

For a stand-alone film of 80-120 minutes, you generally want one or two main characters, so the viewer can identify with them and their story. Sometimes there can be one or two subplots with one or two main characters, though normally they should be supporting characters or antagonists, whose story shows the difficulties the main characters face.

If there are multiple characters with a complex plot, that can lend itself to a film series with three or more episodes of about 30-90 minutes each.

2) Does the book have a strong plot line with action and dialogue?

Or does the book have a lot of thinking, feeling, and reflecting by the main characters or a lot of explanation and discussion of ideas?

The easiest books to turn into films are ones where the story is carried by action and dialogue, since that’s what is best to put on the screen. If the book has a lot of thinking, feeling, and reflecting, this doesn’t translate well on the screen, since any ideas or feelings have to be expressed in dialogue with another character, as a voice over narration, or as a person thinking aloud to himself, and a lot of this can slow down the story. On the other hand, if it is possible to cut out much of this for the film, that’s fine.

It can also be a problem if the book has a lot of explanation or discussion, such as about scientific concepts, political and social ideas, or how certain equipment works. Such discussion and explanation can be fine in a book, but having a lot of this doesn’t work well in a film. It’s fine to provide a brief explanation, statement of ideals, or demonstrate some new equipment with a brief explanation.  But a detailed description can bog down a film Also, in a book, sometimes characters may describe a concept, point of view, or new process several times to other characters in different situations, and that can be fine in providing emphasis or realism in a book.  But in a film, such duplication can bog down the story and can be handled by cuts when the character starts to explain or demonstrate something again.

Thus, when you think about turning your book into a film, think about how it might be streamlined and cut down, so the film emphasizes action and dialogue, though it can incorporate some reflection and presentation of concepts, viewpoints, and new processes and procedures. 

3) How many locations are in the film? How close are they together?

The number of locations is an important factor in determining the cost of a film. Each location requires another set up and take down of equipment, which can be an hour or two for an independent film—obviously much longer in a high budget film with multiple cameras, recording equipment, and other materials to be moved. If there are different rooms in a house, each one normally requires a different set up, unless it is being filmed with a hand-held camera or on a movable dolly. 

When the locations are in a different house, outdoor location, or town, you have to add in travel time between locations, as well as arrange for another set up. If the two locations are close enough, the cast and crew can drive. But if locations are distant enough apart, add in the flying time for travel there.

An alternative to going to a particular location used by many independent filmmakers is simulating that location in a nearby area.  For example, say the film has most of the scenes in a small town that could be anywhere, but some scenes are supposed to be in a foreign city or popular travel destination. One approach might be to find a location an hour or two away that looks like that city or travel destination.  Another might be to get stock footage for that.  Either way, the cost for filming the scene would be cut down.

These are important factors to consider in figuring out the budget, whether you plan to pitch the film to a producer or produce it yourself. If the film has too many locations, it might not be doable for a reasonable budget.

4) What are the most important and dramatic scenes in your book?

Commonly, a book has to be cut in order to be turned into a compelling film. That means the less important scenes need to be cut or