Anyone else tried to adapt one of your favorite books into a screenplay?

There are all kinds of adapted material here, fan fiction and such, but the only novel I've seen adapted is a huge script based on Dan Brown's Angels & Demons. Are there any good ones on the boards here?

Anyone tried to do one? I'm working on one now and am about halfway through. It's just a writing exercise for me, to get out of my writer's block and help me pare down to a more economical writing style.

My dream project is A Density of Souls, by Christopher Rice. I think it'd make a great movie.

Unfortunately, I'm too busy working on real scripts to spend all my time on a script that I'd never get the rights to in the first place.

Yes, I agree that it's a great writing excercise.  I don't wanna get my first adapt assignment in Hollywood and be like, "Crap, how do I turn this 300+ page novel into 110 pages?"

I, myself, have adapted a short story or two from "Last Exit To Brooklyn" and when I find the free time -- which will probably be never -- I'm gonna try and adapt a novel that's already been adapted and which I haven't seen the movie and when I'm finished, I'm gonna compare my script to their script.

I'm working on adapting a short story at the moment. I skimmed through it last week and jotted down a treatment, which I still want to play around with before I work what to do with the dialogue.  

Quoted from mikep I'm working on one now and am about halfway through. It's just a writing exercise for me, to get out of my writer's block and help me pare down to a more economical writing style.

Same here. I get blocked all the time, so I figure doing adaptations is a good way to keep writing until I'm inspired by an idea of my own. I have some original ideas kicking around, but the idea of fleshing them out doesn't really appeal to me at the moment.

It's a good exercise, but it seems like a huge waste of time.

Good exercise is never a waste of time, AB. But as I'm only adapting a short it shouldn't take up too much time.

Quoted Text It's a good exercise, but it seems like a huge waste of time.

Since when was improving as a writer a huge waste of time?

If you're only looking to sell scripts, you could consider it a waste of time...but how do you expect to sell scripts if you're not the best writer you could be?

Adapting someone elses work is a big part of writing, so it's not a bad thing to be prepared when the time comes to adapt someone elses work.

Plus, it's a good sample script.

For me, anytime you learn to write a bit better, improve your skills, it's not a waste of time.

I was going to adapt Empire of the East (A book better than Lord of The Rings in many ways) but I just felt I could never improve on the book so i left it alone.

I also tried adapting a book I read in one night (A real page turner) but ultimately gave up because again one can never do a good book justice.

My personal opinion is that writers butcher books and make them "sell" ready and that's the sad truth about it.

Books do not deserve to be butchered by writers who don't even care for the material.

There are different ways to improve than spending a lot of time on a script you can't even sell.

If you want to write for pleasure, be my guest. I want to make money. I want to write a damn good script, sell it, and then watch it on the big screen with all my friends.

Quoted from ABennettWriter There are different ways to improve than spending a lot of time on a script you can't even sell. If you want to write for pleasure, be my guest. I want to make money. I want to write a damn good script, sell it, and then watch it on the big screen with all my friends.

Andrew Dominick’s first movie was Chopper his second was The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Both were adaptations. So who knows if any of our adaptations could sell or not? Either way there's always something to learn when you go through the process of writing, whether you’re writing an adaptation or an original screenplay. Ideally I'd always love to write an original, but if I don't have any original ideas I'm enthusiastic about, at a given point in time, then adapting a book is probably better than doing nothing. As long as it gets you writing it's all good.    

I guess I should've elaborated.

I'll gladly write any adaptation, if it's a commissioned script. Chances are, you won't be able to purchase the rights in the first place. You might get lucky, but it just seems like a bunch of wasted effort.

Quoted from ABennettWriter I guess I should've elaborated. I'll gladly write any adaptation, if it's a commissioned script. Chances are, you won't be able to purchase the rights in the first place. You might get lucky, but it just seems like a bunch of wasted effort.

I think a lot of smaller books would probably be easier to get the rights. (I don't know if that's true.) If I could get the rights to The Sending which was a really good book (I read it in one night... page turner) that would make a decent film.

It's a crazy story that is made to be adapted. It'd be easy to adapt page by page and then cut out about like 50 pages of filler (Yes, it has filler) and you have a good movie script.

Quoted from ABennettWriter I guess I should've elaborated. I'll gladly write any adaptation, if it's a commissioned script. Chances are, you won't be able to purchase the rights in the first place. You might get lucky, but it just seems like a bunch of wasted effort.

So you think you could just hammer out a professional adaptation without having done one before?

Quoted from Old Time Wesley It's a crazy story that is made to be adapted. It'd be easy to adapt page by page and then cut out about like 50 pages of filler (Yes, it has filler) and you have a good movie script.

I don’t know, Wes. I reckon an adapted screenplay is more than just a watered down novel. You’re adapting something from a literary medium into something for a visual medium. Surely it would require more than just a good editing job.

Remember, just because you write what you think is a good feature doesn't mean someone else will. Your original scripts, any spec script, is really nothing more than a writing sample.
My second option was with a producer to whom I'd submitted two scripts. He didn't like either, they were out of his preferred genre,  but liked my style and ability to write action, so on that basis I wrote a screenplay for him which he optioned and we worked on for a year before he gave up trying to get all the financing in place. Writing is writing, it's all valuable if you want to be a good writer.