#screen adaptations

[indecisivecosplayer]

My issue with Despair's journey to the screen

I just finished Dead Boy Detectives and I think I've finally realised what my issue has been with the on-screen adaptations of Despair. It's not the acting, or even the wardrobe that is the issue (although the costume is not necessarily my favourite).

When we think about the concept of Despair, she is a something that creeps up on you. She is powerful, all consuming. She's confident in her own ability and purpose. She's a whisper in the back of your head that grows and grows until you're full to the brim with shadows and she's leaking out into everything around you.

And I think this could be done on screen. There just needs to be a change in the way she is shot, and what music is used.

Imagine a Despair, standing in her realm, observing through the mirrors. Half her face is in shadows, and the camera drifts to focus on her hand, where her hook is digging into her skin and a trail of blood is leaking down onto the floor. (Also imagine giving her pointed teeth. We really missed out there. That would be so cool.) Shoot from lower rather than above to make her seem larger and more intimidating. Show us her eyes, and her hair tied back, and the way her body moves when she breathes. Show us the tiny movements that break the stillness.

The music should be creepy, either silence apart from a soft rasping breathing noise, OR a quiet, slightly screechy violin, just playing by itself, a slow creeping tune.

Give us a long time to take her in, and then, just before she speaks, let the noise drown out and give us a long close up of her smile, wide and sharp, as she stares into the mirror. We hear a few drops of blood splatter against the floor.

And then she speaks and everything stops. She commands silence. The shot is a close-up of her mouth as she speaks. Then it moves to see the reaction of the listener, and after that we get mid to wide shots.

But she never stops seeming powerful, because that's exactly what she is. If Desire can be shot in a way that shows their strength and influence, then so can their twin. We need to start giving her the respect she deserves.

[principiumindividuationis777]

Ace-ssentially Sherlock

I am not myself asexual, as one already knows if one has browsed this blog (it's safe for work, though), but I always have felt that screen adaptations of Sherlock Holmes that have him as anything else do not work, no matter how good the acting, cinematography, etcetera.

Crucial to A. Conan Doyle's original Holmes is that, for the most part, he is a reasoning machine. If something is utterly irrelevant to the science of detection, then he is utterly indifferent to it (e.g. whether the earth goes around the sun, or vice versa). He would see attraction to or an intimate relationship with any other human being to be a distraction that would prevent his impartiality and take away his energy.

Enthusiasts and fans are free to ship anyone with anyone else, of course, but to me, the Sherlock Holmes, apart from headcanons, will always be ace.

[bertilakslady]

As @margysmusings has pointed out to me, Gareth Thomas would have made a PERFECT Heathcliff. In fact, I realised today that he was the actor I had in my head when I first read the novel all those years ago…

(This is actually a pic from The Revivalist, 1975)

[lifelinebooks]

Never did read Red White and Royal Blue but I LOVED One Last Stop (I read it every June) so now that Red is getting a movie I suppose I should read it. Does this mean I can hope for a screen adaptation of One Last Stop? Please???

[acourtofquestions]

This is what I always imagine the first Summer Solstice in A Court of Thorns and Roses being like!

If it ever gets its own book to screen adaptation this would be such great fantasy aesthetics & gorgeous color grading in cinematography to aspire to. As it already on its own is just such beautiful imagery. + Another fun fantasy series, to binge.

& also Elora gives me such Feyre vibes in this scene (lol) — ‘don’t drink the wine he said… as she drinks the wine’…

@willowgifsdaily​ willow month 2023 event ↳week two - favorite scene

“Jade’s a Bone Reaver. I don’t know what that makes her now. Conflicted, I imagine. Anyway, they’re throwing a party to celebrate her return.”

[imthefailedartist]

Carrie is fat in the book. Learning that completely blew me.

The use of pigs blood makes so much more sense. The reason she was bullied so relentlesly, even though she does nothing to nobody, makes so much more sense. The relationship with her mother makes so much more sense.

I know they aren't going to, but I wish they would cast someone fat in this new Carrie adaptation. From the articles I've seen, they are already speculating which skinny actress it's going to be.

How many times can they tell the story the same exact way? The answer: endlessly.

I don't know what's worse the total erasure of fat people in movies or the only story we get to see ourselves in are the love yourself fatty movies.

[soranatus]

“Sun-Spider was absolutely one of my favorite assignments on the film. I poured over Dayn Broder’s original designs to include as many design markers as I could, while trying to see if I could plus up the design. Had to make the wheelchair a mech that could follow her around.” — Kris Anka

[tartppola]

The conversation at Topsy-Turvy Square, gone differently

dialogue written by the talented @zgvlt

[jayblanc]

From my own brief experience of this...

When adapting a book/comic series to a TV series, leaving the writing of the pilot and the bible up to 'the studio' is not an ideal situation. In the era of "leveraged IP content", there's the possibility that they will view your project as an interchangeable sack of potatoes, and if there's a stall in producing a pilot-ready screenplay, the project gets dropped. Because they can always find a different sack of potatoes. Sometimes they will drop the project silently by running out the clock on the option. You might not find out that it's dead until many years after they made the decision to kill the project.

I was very remotely involved in a project where the creator and owner of the IP was not interested in writing the pilot and bible, joining the WGA, or even getting a media agent and assumed her literary agent was enough representation. That did not go well. Across multiple studios picking it up and then silently dropping it. Fine if you just want to cash the option cheque, not great if you wanted an actual show. (And kinda bad for the smaller people involved...)

There's also the not inconsiderable issue about credits. The show will go out with the credit "Created for television by" with the name of the person who wrote the "story" treatment for the pilot. This isn't the same person as the writer of the book/comic that this treatment was based on, it's specifically the person who wrote the treatment. To get on that "Created for television by" credit, the writer needs to have put in at least a third of the work on the treatment.

In my opinion, it's in the original writer's best interests to at least have involvement in the pilot treatment, if not the entire screenplay and bible. And they absolutely need a media agent. And then it's also in their best interests to join the WGA when they qualify. (Set aside some of that Option money for the WGA's induction fee!)

Curiosity question, because I know you work in both writing and film:

A book series I like is being adapted for film, and I have heard the author is working as a creative consultant rather than a writer because she isn't part of the WGA. Are book authors allowed to join the union if their book is being adapted for film? Or is there some technicality that would make it too difficult?

There's absolutely no reason a novelist can't become a Writers Guild member. I certainly did that when Michael Reaves and I pitched "Where No One Has Gone Before" to ST:TNG. (Michael was Guild already.) But it depends on what company you're working with, and what they want from you—or don't want.

The issue splits into two parts.

First of all: to qualify to join the Guild, you must accrue a certain number of "units" of TV, film or other Guild-covered media work within a three-year period (and then pay an initiation fee). The rules about qualification are here. You accrue these work units by selling your writing to a company that's signatory to the Guild's minimum basic agreement (MBA).

So as an example: if I was a series-owning novelist who wrote a screenplay for a feature film, or a bible for a miniseries of four hours or more, and sold either of those to an MBA-signatory company, that would be my twenty-four qualification points accrued immediately, and I could apply for Guild membership right then. To join I would simply fill out whatever paperwork was necessary and send the Guild my initiation fee, and that would be that. (US west-coast writers automatically join WGA West, IIRC: east-coast and international writers go to WGA East.)

But first you have to make that sale.

If the company that's adapting a creative property you own doesn't want to buy a script or a bible from you, that's their choice. The adapters may have a writing team or room they prefer to work with, rather than trying to train the novelist in screenwriting: or they might have other reasons not to commit to buying a script from the series owner. The novelist would then have to decide in what other way they want to interact (creatively speaking) with the people doing the adaptation.

In the case you describe above, if what you've heard is accurate, it sounds like the company the writer is working with has decided not to offer the novelist the opportunity to write a script for them. In such a situation, taking a creative-consultant job may be the best deal the novelist can leverage. You do, of course, also get novelists who actively don't want to be involved in the screenwriting process—either for lack of script experience or some other reason—and prefer a consultant position, especially if it comes with some kind of producer credit.

In any case, hope this makes the whole issue clearer!

[counting-stars-gayly]

This might be a hot take, but I actually like that Percy figured out Luke was the traitor at the last minute. There were A LOT of clues that would’ve been hard to ignore, and he ignored them for as long as he could. And it’s clear that even after accusing Luke, he’s still surprised and heartbroken at Luke’s confirmation of his suspicions. He was holding out hope, guys!!

Also, the Betrayal Scene flows better as an exchange of dialogue and a swordfight than it did, in the books, as a monologue and a scorpion sting. This also leaves a bigger impact on the viewers and characters because it’s more emotional.

[dogzcats]

pride & prejudice: from book to movie

[professorhayforbreath]

also sorry but i'm not sold on "they only have 8 episodes" as a defense for why the show is falling flat as both a show and an adaptation. 8 episodes is roughly 5 hours. that's 3 hours more than most movies lol. that should be plenty of time to adapt all the most important things, they're just not using their screen time as well as they could be. sorry i don't think it should actually be this hard to fit the essential core of the lightning thief's story and characters into 5 hours. the movie and musical were both 2 hours give or take and they still did certain things better. skill issue

[sw1ft-sniff]

THERE IS A FUCKING SCREEN ADAPTION TO PASSERINE

this channel has a screen adaption of Passerine they’re making it at the moment but omg (I never read Passerine)

I’m not really in DSMP anymore but I feel like more people should know about this (I do not own this I just found it and think it has a surprisingly low amount of views)

[fall-a-little-harder]

I don’t understand why tumblr isn’t absolutely drooling over lockwood and co it’s everything that tumblr should love?????? it’s got ghosts and swords??? cozy British vibes?? ANGST THROUGH THE ROOF???? the best slowburn since pride and prejudice?? the “you can kill me just don’t touch her” trope is EVERYWHERE???

PLEASE I am beGGING YOU go binge it!!!

[yrsonpurpose]

RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE (2023) book → screen (x)

[jakeperalta]

(this isn't a question about the best p&p adaptation ever, it is simply which you prefer OUT OF THESE TWO OPTIONS since they are the two most commonly talked about and compared!!)