There are a lot of stories created by great authors who have yet to see their books made into movies. This is due in part to the Hollywood standards used to determine what stories would translate well to the screen. Another factor might be based on the dread many authors feel when handing over their title to be reworked into a film format, which may include a change in style, content or theme.

However, most authors who are willing to allow a trusted production team to alter their story may have no idea how to get their book read by the right company. There is no secret to finding the right production company, except for hard diligent research.

A quick dive into research will provide a list of thousands of production companies. As of the writing of this article there are 6 big studio production companies listed. The independents make up the rest and include 242 production companies in Chicago, 66 in Seattle, 516 labeled as Christian, and on the various lists go. These lists do not include companies started for the purpose of making and releasing one specific film.

Once the right companies are found, the story needs to pass the filtering systems to be considered. There are 10 things that need to be in the story to make it past the first cut of titles being considered:

1. PROACTIVE HERO. The main character or the protagonist must be active and the one driving the story. He must be motivated and driven to make decisions, rather than having things happen to him. The character must grow through his journey and overcome whatever held him back in the opening of the story.

2. UNIVERSAL STORY. The story must be high concept and understandable by the average person and be based on common experiences, but from a unique viewpoint. The story needs to be able to capture the attention of the audience, regardless of their specific interests in the issues within the story.

3. FLAWED PROTAGONIST. The main character must be flawed in a way that reveals elements of the human condition that others can relate to. The character must face struggles that he must battle through to achieve his goals. By the end of the story, he needs to figure out a way to turn his flaw into strength, which is the tool he’ll use to save the day or accomplish his goal.

4. GREAT ACTION PLOTLINE. The story must have forward movement created by physical action or life changing decisions. This movement must be strong enough to carry the reader through every aspect of the story. A great action plot is one that can be understood with the audio turned off or the dialog deleted.

5. STORY WITH 7-8 SET PIECES. Set pieces are those iconic scenes that are designed to have an obvious imposing effect on the audience. They are the scenes in a film that are ideal for trailers, which stand out and say this film is unique and special. These types of scenes create buzz, driving people to pay out good money to see the movie. Rarely are films made, let alone promoted, without these conversational moments being embedded into a story.

6. STRUCTURE USING 3, 7 OR 8 ACTS. Most Hollywood films use the three-act structure, but MOWs (Movie of the Week) are further broken down into 7 or 8 acts depending on the network – The difference being in the structure of the first act. If the story is not able to fit this structure, it won’t be purchased or if purchased, it will have significant changes made to it.

7. VISUAL STORYLINE. Motion pictures are designed for movement. While that sounds ridiculously obvious, there are many people who want their talking head story to be on the silver screen. If the story is dialog driven, then it should be considered for radio or theater. If it is thought driven, it is better off staying as a book. But, if it has action, movement or some semblance of motion, it should work on the big screen. The story must be filled with visual action.

8. RAISE AN OVERARCHING QUESTION. It is important in film to have a question raised in the audience’s mind to keep their attention and drive their desire to see the next scene. If the story has numerous scene-by-scene questions answered throughout the main character’s journey and an overarching question that isn’t answered until the climax, then the story is ideal for film.

9. ENTERTAINMENT VALUE. Audiences flock to the theater to have fun, laugh, cry, be scared, stimulated, and other emotionally based forms of entertainment. Books that cause a person to laugh or talk out loud, or draw a tear are truly entertaining and have a shot at being made into a film.

10. PROFESSIONAL AUTHOR. The author needs to be audience minded and professional in his approach. The author, who is more concerned about his content, than the audience, would not be a good fit. The option agreement is a business proposition that takes a story and translates it to a completely different medium, it is not a personal agreement that takes someone’s baby away from them and raises it to be something they didn’t want it to be. If the author can’t understand that difference, then movies are not for him.

Those authors who fit all 10 of the above criteria will find their story selling for top dollar. Some authors will find their books being requested often due to a large number of the above items matching their book, but might not ever see a movie made. And, other authors will never be asked because their stories never matched any of the criteria.

I know one author whose writing is perfectly situated to receive numerous options, but has never had one make it to the screen. He got wise to the circumstances and raised his up front fees, knowing his back end fees were useless. The last time I talked to him he was making about six figures a year and yet, he never had a film made. He always laughed when he shared that no studio had ever ruined one of his stories, but he was rich because of their desires to do so.

Since independent companies develop most options, most authors never see six figures. In fact, they usually laugh at how small their royalty checks are. However, the authors are very excited at the huge jump in book sales the movie creates. I’ve known authors that have seen 2X their sales with the release of the film as well as 10X and 20X, depending on the genre.

One author sold around 40K units a year and after her movie released sales jumped to 150K a year. The notoriety she received from the film caused her next title to sell 350K units in the first 6 months without a film deal. Another author sold 10K books a year and his film deal shot sales up to over 1MM copies in 18 months.

Option agreements are valuable to many authors, but some prefer to write the screenplay themselves and find they lack the mastery of the craft needed for sales. Most screenwriters write numerous screenplays for years before their skill level hits a place of value for production companies. Authors eventually learn that book writing uses a significantly different set of skills, which leaves them working for years trying to develop the new techniques. Other authors realize that they’re core abilities are in writing novels and they leave the screenwriting to the experienced.

Copyright © 2013 by CJ Powers

During the first quarter of every year I review numerous books and consider optioning them to be made into a feature film. It doesn’t matter how many books I go after, the end result is usually the same. There is a 25% chance I will obtain the “right to option” the story, a 5% chance I will actually option it, and a 2% chance I will buy the rights.

There are three key factors I face in optioning story rights. Each one of those factors has to work out perfectly in order to obtain the rights and create the screenplay. To succeed, I’ve found that I have to educate the author, agree on a contract, and change my approach to suit the author.

Educate the Author

The first step in obtaining the rights is to educate the author on the differences between media. Seldom do audiences say that the movie was just like the book. Most people either like the book and hate the movie, or like the movie and hate the book, unless both were just okay.

What makes for a great literary piece is almost the exact opposite of what makes for a great visual piece. The only thing the media has in common is their attempts to sway the audience’s emotions, albeit by different techniques.

In the literary world the author can help the audience get into the minds of the characters. That wouldn’t work as well in film, as the entire movie would be interrupted with numerous narrations, pulling the viewer out of the story, or at least reminding them they are watching a story, rather than having an experience with the character

A good book can take the audience on a journey or exploration that they help create with their imagination. In film, the director uses his imagination to select the specifics of the journey and invites the audience to view what he has already explored.

Most great books fail on the screen, while mediocre ones succeed. This is due to great books having its main plot line filled with heady thought, emotions and character bonding. Film on the other hand, typically moves the emotional components of the story to the B-plotline. In other words, many times a great book requires its B-plotline to be elevated in a movie as an action plotline in order for it to succeed. The opposite is also true; books that don’t connect well with the reader typically are driven by action, which translates very well to the screen.

Agree on a Contract

There are three phases in most agreements. Each phase requires an outlay of cash or percentage of the film. These phases are highly negotiable and require a tremendous amount of diplomacy to achieve, as it involves two artists from two very different media. The three phases include: the right to option; the option; and, the purchasing of the story rights including copyright transfer. The phased agreement typically carries three signature sections for the execution of each part.

The right to option the story gives the purchaser time to develop the story for the screen. It may or may not be a successful attempt based on the huge differences in media. This part is filled with a lot of risk for the writer, director or producer who is attempting to obtain the rights. A treatment is typically written during this phase to help the creative team understand how the film would play out.

The option typically kicks in once the purchaser knows the story will translate. While there is no guarantee that it will, he has found at least a handful of nuggets that will help the process and finds the next phase of development worth his risk. The first draft of the screenplay is written, a synopsis created and a pitch formed in order to shop the story with potential investors, talent and distributors.

The rights are purchased once there is an agreement signed for a big name talent, financing or distribution. While this doesn’t guarantee the story is ever produced, the author, depending on the contract, can take a good amount of her money to the bank.

Since the negotiations are very people and needs focused, everything I shared above might be completely different between agreements. For instance, some producers prefer to jump straight into the option and skip the first phase, while other producers might want to hire a writer during the first phase rather than wait for the second.

The bigger, or less risk adverse, production companies usually buy the rights outright, sometimes just to keep it away from the competition and set it on the shelf for the contract’s duration. Moderate sized production companies buy the option up front so they can move quickly with their existing partners in finance and distribution. Smaller, niche, or boutique production companies include the right to option the story because it drops their risk down to something palatable, knowing that few literary stories translate well to the screen.

One of the reasons comic books do so well on the screen is due to their inception being visual. The translation was created in the mind of the author at the story’s inception and was written with visuals playing the main role in the film.

Change Approach to Suit the Author

I’ve worked with humble writers and prima donnas. Some have been fearful that their perfect story would be slightly altered and others could care less about the major changes made. There are writers who believe their own press and think they are God’s gift to the film world and others who are surprised to be asked for their story rights.

The controller types are the hardest to work with. One of my friends had a book deal that went really well until the author stepped in, according to his contract, and demanded thousands of dollars in changes. The budget was blown and the film never released.

My first book deal had the author unattached and angry. The story suffered because we couldn’t ask him a few key clarifying questions for fear he’d file another lawsuit to change the contract he agreed to. The final film failed miserably in the US, but thankfully was a huge success overseas – We broke even.

There is a fine balance between the author controlling the production to its detriment, due largely to the fact that the she has no clue about the medium, and the author being engaged to support her story. The ideal author is the one who is on standby to answer specific questions without rambling on to other ideas, and is willing to trust the creative film team with what they do best. Unfortunately, they are hard to find.

The hands off authors typically are so distant you can’t ask them clarifying questions without getting them more engaged. However, once engaged, they become a train wreck that requires a lot of handholding. Those that start off engaged or controlling constantly force the creative team to insulate themselves, and if gone unchecked, they might change the story just to flaunt their creative rights.

The worst part isn’t how the author behaves, but rather how the purchaser behaves. I’ve found myself in many situations where I wanted to, but thankfully didn’t, make a bad decision to put an author in his place, or purchase a story that I couldn’t translate, just because of the good or bad relationship being built between the author and me.

I made a big mistake with one children’s title when I kept the author’s favorite scene in the movie. My expertise told me to trash it, but I kept it because of the relationship I had built with the author. As expected, the critics panned the movie with every article referencing that scene which just didn’t fit the film. The only thing that made it worse was listening to the author’s rant for me having kept the scene.

The bottom line is that there are no rules to follow concerning the various types of deals made with authors. However, educating the author, agreeing on a contract and finding the best ways to communicate heart and soul will always be present, regardless of the cutting edge deal being discussed.

Copyright © 2013 by CJ Powers

When developing a story, the writer needs to decide what a given scene is about. Let’s say it’s about Mick (Most Important Character Know) and Sue (Subtle Undermining Evildoer), meeting in a laundry mat. Since Sue is subtle in her approach, she needs to try and win Mick’s attention one small step at a time.

Using the above thoughts, the first draft might come across like this:

Sample Subtext Scene

The sample subtext scene accomplishes our goal of having Sue subtly approach Mick one step at a time. If she were to come out and say let’s have some fun tonight, he wouldn’t have any interest. But, the subtle approach allowed Sue to test Mick’s perception of his marriage and how soon he might consider trading in for another model.

The scene is also loaded with symbolism and visuals. Since the best scenes are those that live up to the saying, “show, don’t tell,” the scene plays out well cinematically and subtly. This technique also speaks well to subtext.

The below includes the real unspoken story in brackets:

Scene Explained

Sometimes it’s good to write the subtext to make sure the scene plays the way it was designed. This can help the writer quickly tweak the story or the subtext that each phrase generates.

In the above scene, we see Mick struggling with his dull life. This is followed by an emotional shift, which leaves Mick filled with the possibilities of being lifted out of his quagmire. The audience now knows that Mick isn’t where he wants to be and is tempted by the possibility of change. We also know that his need for change is greater than the pain of change.

With one simple scene built with nuances and subtext, the audience has learned more about Mick than their childhood neighbors. They have also picked up on the question that was embedded into the scene: Will Mick give in to Sue’s promises for a better life or stay true to his marriage?

By raising a question at the end of the scene, the audience is compelled to watch more of the movie until he or she gets the answer. They need to know if he is a moral man or one who will do anything to get ahead. This also causes the audience to become invested in Mick and may even push him or her to cheer Mick on by the third act.

The power of nuances salted into a scene with subtext driving the story, makes for an interesting and entertaining scene. And, by adding in conflict, which in this case is Sue’s goal for a man who is already married, can up the stakes and increase the audiences’ interest in the rest of the film.

Here is the same scene written by a beginning screenwriter, which lacks nuances and subtext:

Scene Beginning Screenwriter

In this version, the same key elements are in place, but it carries a very different tone. While the audience will still get the point, it won’t drive their desire to see the rest of the film. Nor will it cause the audience to become invested in Mick.

The scene plays flat because it is. The only fix is to heighten the emotions and raise the question. However, those things can only be done successfully using nuances and subtext.

Copyright © 2013 By CJ Powers