Can You Beat an Original?

When writing a screenplay, it is important to produce a script that contains the enormous potential to maintain an audiences' attention. The writer of the screenplay has a variety of choices on how to achieve this for an original score, but when dealing with a screenplay taken from an adaptation of a literary text, the screenplay author only has so much to work with. They also have to be concerned with maintaining the integrity of the original work. Obviously, there would not be an adaptation of anything if that original piece of work already was not captivating in some way, presenting a unique piece of art that might be successful as another medium.

A book reads differently than a movie does though. In a book, there can be lengthy paragraphs describing the smallest detail, while in a movie, the director only has seconds to describe that same detail to an audience and make it stick. Now, I am not speaking from experience, but I am led to believe that a situation such as the one just described is where many conflicts originate. A writer worked hard, I assume, to present a certain idea in a certain way to an audience. It would be a shame not to live up to that writer's expectations, but I am pretty sure that it happens more times than not.

A compromise has to be reached for everyone to be happy (by happy I mean get paid). So bits and pieces of the original idea get chipped away, and in-turn, the director loses some control as do the producers. That is why I feel that most literary works that have been used as the basis for movies have not been as successful as the original work. Although. I do acknowledge the fact that there are many movies that I have seen that have been adapted from a book and I did not even know it. I'll even go so far as to say that I enjoyed many of those movies.