As a reformed screenwriter who has made a happy transition to writing fiction, I am prone to making inevitable comparisons between the two disciplines. Publication of my debut novel offers daily and jarring contrasts to years of churning out screenplays. Some of those script pages became the blueprints for actual movies. Many, many others did not, resulting in nothing more than “business” pushed back and forth between the producer, studio exec and me. But that’s a topic for another essay perhaps. Straddling these two worlds has given me some perspective to the perils and pitfalls any novel faces once it enters the film or television development process. In other words, I’ve had my arms elbow deep in the vats of that factory responsible for turning your literary mignon into movie McNuggets. I’ve felt your pain, as author and fan of the thriller genre, and I’ve helped inflict it.
The typical advice given to authors when approached by Hollywood is “to take the money and run.” In most cases, no film or television series ever results from these deals. Twelve or eighteen months after cashing the check, the author may receive another payment that extends an option. More often than not, the whole effort fizzles. Like some literary equivalent of cancel culture, authors (and their fans) are left wondering where the love has gone. But who’s to complain? This is “free” money and money is good, right?
Not necessarily. After all, is there any worse moment for a book’s fans when, after years of patient waiting and laborious massaging by film or tv professionals, the finished product finally appears … and it resoundingly sucks? One can never un-see the awfulness of a cinematic hatchet job and it besmirches forever your impressions of the book.
A successful movie adaptation of a favorite novel enriches the original reading experience and brings the book legions of new fans. But successes are the exceptions, not the rule.Don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge movie lover. What happens on screen with a film that works is an absolute marvel. A successful movie adaptation of a favorite novel enriches the original reading experience and brings the book legions of new fans. But successes are the exceptions, not the rule. The good news, for readers and authors alike, is that the tide is turning. Social media has given book lovers a voice that didn’t exist ten or fifteen years ago. Their demands that Hollywood studios honor the integrity of popular novels are being heard. And authors, too, are taking a more dynamic role maintaining control of the “content” they create. To those novelists who might not yet possess the clout of a Lee Child or Don Winslow, I can only advise they say no more often than they say yes, and to read Syd Field’s seminal Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting before they do say yes. Don’t let them tell you screenwriting is some sort of alchemy that requires the exclusive attention of Hollywood’s wizards. Any writer worth his or her sand can write a screenplay.
So what are those works that I personally can’t wait (or can, if that means getting it right) to see on screen? This is purely a wish list. Most if not all of these fantastic authors have optioned their books for film or television adaptation. None require my advice in deflecting the slings and arrows flung at them by Hollywood. I await the finished film or television show as an excited fan, with breath held … and fingers crossed.
The Chain, Adrian McKinty
There are few recently published novels better situated and more player-ready for screen adaptation than Adrian McKinty’s The Chain. Readers have eaten this book alive and so did the film world. In his review of the book for NPR, Paddy Hirsch writes, “…The Chain slithers like a basilisk, feeding on our obsession with social media, and our blithe ignorance of online privacy and security.” This jaw-dropping book deserved the feeding frenzy in the film world it received. The names attached to that adaptation gives fans good hope for a delirium-inducing result.
Terminal List, Jack Carr
Jack Carr’s Terminal List is the kind of book I would have crawled across broken glass to get a shot at adapting into a screenplay. With a protagonist, James Reece, who will absolutely attract an actor capable of getting a movie made and an insane abundance of wham-bam action sequences, this book should bowl over all the usual barriers that can stop a movie project in its tracks. Reece’s dark journey of revenge is cinematic from page one, leading down a twisted path that is only the start of what is tailor-made for a movie franchise. Done right, Terminal List is one I’m dying to see.
The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides
The biggest and splashiest thriller of 2019 was Alex Michaelides’ The Silent Patient. Like McKinty’s book, it has found an A-list home in Hollywood that bodes well for its film adaptation. The author is a screenwriter who will undoubtedly protect the intricate suspense and chilling world set down in his debut novel. Here is the perfect scenario for book-to-film done right and one that I’ll see on its first day of release: an accomplished screenwriter who was the book’s author, an 1,000lb gorilla producing and therefore able to protect the scriptwriter, and fanatical fan base who will raze the town if the goods aren’t delivered. The bromide has it that there’s no such animal as a “sure-thing” in the film business but The Silent Patient comes pretty damn close.
November Road, Lou Berney
A favorite book of mine in 2018 was Lou Berney’s November Road, one that also has sterling attachments for its adaptation to film. The quintessential road movie is a more difficult to pull off than the casual fan might imagine. Bad ones tend to become slack and episodic, losing the audience’s interest after the first act. (Ask any professional screenwriter; the second act is hardest to pull off.) But Berney’s book keep the suspense taunt in the character of Barone, a professional hitman who is never far behind in pursuit of his hero, the elegiac Frank Guidry. This one is in the hands of a consummate filmmaker who has had spectacular successes and soul-crushing flameouts. If you’re anxiously awaiting the film based on this beautiful book like I am, let’s all say a prayer.
Heaven, My Home, Attica Locke
Another book series that has excellent prospects not only because of an enthralling protagonist, world, and wide cast of hugely entertaining characters, but also by virtue of the author being hard-wired to survive the gauntlet of a Hollywood development process is Attica Locke’s Darren Mathews crime novels. I love the arena in Locke’s books, thick with the pungent atmosphere of East Texas and residence of diverse characters that persist in your psyche after reading like a feverish dream. Locke has an impressive resume in television already and my hope is that with the publication of her latest book in the series, Heaven, My Home, the momentum will kick into gear for this deal first announced in 2017 for an anticipated television series on FX.
The above books are the obvious contenders, some having a better chance of fulfilling the enormous promise of the original novels than others. Sometimes, however, a great book doesn’t necessarily scream for movie adaptation and can be overlooked. In the right hands, and with a whole lot of luck, these novels can become some of my favorite films, like Winter’s Bone, (based on the book of the same name, by Daniel Woodrell.) One of these overlooked gems is Instructions For The End Of The World by Jamie Kain. Both faux-apocalyptic and young adult, the book requires a true filmmaker’s vision and a massively delicate touch. In the vein of Terrence Malick films, the result could be exquisitely good or, well, the opposite of brilliant. But what a startling and fresh world the author creates here. This one I can definitely hold out until the stars align and deliver on the novel’s promise.
