Just when you thought things couldn't get much tougher for the publishing industry, the paper predecessors to forthcoming film adaptations may have begun taking a backseat to their own treatments. As noted in today's Variety, studios are now more aggressively seeking authors (and prospective authors) of books and magazine/newspaper articles to produce stories and treatments for films -- in some cases, without the books even being written.One such example, "Lost Girls," an 87-page proposal by a group of girl friends who traveled the world together, not only caught the attention of big five publisher HarperCollins, but it was also immediately acquired by Warner Bros. This is a drastic departure from the norm; in many recent cases, a book's "adaptability" was determined by the number of weeks it stayed on the bestseller list (Da Vinci Code anyone?). While the quality of the author's agent or network of friends is sometimes a factor, so rarely was the quality of the book's content that which caught a studio's attention (though these slow-selling adaptations are often made popular by the Academy Awards each year, which thankfully continues to honor story over sales). But now, Hollywood seems to be playing the part of fortune teller and dictator, skipping such insignificant foreplay as critical acclaim, sales, and award recognition to go right for the big-money penetration.
It could be a side-effect of our reality-obsessed society -- seeking what we know from elsewhere to be churned, burned, and turned into big-screen entertainment -- or it could simply be a sign of Left Coast laziness, but this new fast-track is a sign that book itself is of decreasing importance to our culture. It's not inconceivable, then, that more writers will eschew literary work in favor of a clever proposal designed to catch the studios' attention (a film-ready novel is also a much easier sell to a big-company agent). Either that, or book shelves will fill with Hollywood hopefuls -- vapid little texts built on cliffhangers and catch-phrases that could easily be boiled down to an elevator pitch.
And who can blame the writers? There's no red carpet for bestselling authors, no awards shows worth watching (I'm willing to debate the merit of The Quills for anyone interested). The parties for the lit scene are few, far between, and bland....and the wine is always shit. So from the perspective of the writer, Hollywood seems like a pretty good deal.
But from where I'm sitting, it's obvious that we -- faithful readers of the page -- are getting the short end of the stick. And for those of you who, like me, would often rather read the book than watch the adaptation, it appears that we're on the losing side of a celluloid battle that may be over sooner than anyone anticipated.
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Chris Steib is the author of one-and-a-half novels that no one has read, because no one has been gracious enough to published them (yet). He enjoys the Helvetica sans-serif family of graphic fonts and taking arms-length photos of himself.
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Comments: 7
society). You bring up some valid points. We readers are in for a bumpy ride. I'm with
Paul, let's dress up as ex-presidents and rob banks! (Point Break).
However, I have adapted one of my novels into a screenplay.
Lisa W, as I live and breath. The Quills were doomed from the get-go. DOOMED I say! Authors are boring, and people don't attend readings because books are either (a) a solitary experience, or (b) better discussed openly in groups. Awards shows are made for gawking at interesting people. But Quills made even John Stewart uninteresting by forcing him to get up and talk about a book he wrote on pure irony.
Oh, and that NBC owned-and-operated stations aired it at like 5:47pm on a Saturday didn't help either. IMHO.