How to Adapt a Novel Into a Screenplay in 10 Steps | Script Reader Pro

If you’ve found some success as a novelist (or even if you haven’t published your novel yet), you may have considered adapting your novel into a screenplay. But where to start?

In our latest video, we’re giving you ten clear steps to follow while adapting a novel into a screenplay for the silver screen.

Here’s what’s coming up:

• How to use outlines to turn your novel into a movie.
• Ways to zero in on your movie’s main conflict.
• Pro scripts to learn from and screenwriting books to read.

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LEARN HOW TO ADAPT YOUR NOVEL INTO A SCRIPT HERE:

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Over to You:

• Ask yourself, is my novel visual enough?
• If yes, turn your novel outline into a movie outline.
• What do you think of our methods outlined in this video?

Let us know in the comments section below the video.
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[BrunoCosta-wnft]

Another thing that I would like to add, based on my own experience (writing my own adaptation to tv), is that the length of the acts varies substantially. In my book, Act 1 is just one chapter, equivalent to one scene, and then the inciting incident immediately comes up. But in the script, I had to create a couple more scenes to give more context and explain better the lead characters' motivation. Therefore, ACT 1 is longer now.

Thanks for your video!

[NIKONGUY]

Read a book on Kindle. Total page turner. Kept thinking this would make a great movie. Finished it, the thought wouldn't leave me alone. Bought a physical copy. Now, watching this, I thought it time to get to work. I'm retired now so time is no longer an issue. At some point I'm going to have to approach the author and talk about rights. That would be a great topic to cover at some point.

[ent]

I wrote a short film, then created the book, and now I’m revamping into a full feature

[ZekeBriarcliff]

Great notes. This really helped me start to formulate a workflow for adapting a particular book into a screenplay.

[throne]

I have written several murder mystery novels. An Indie producer has approached me about turning one of them into a movie. The novel takes place in two time frames which are spread out throughout the novel. He asked me if I would have a go at writing a screen version of it for him (for $$). As the writer, I can see ways of compressing the early time frame where the murders take place into several minutes at the beginning of the movie, extracting important visual elements and minimizing character building needed in the written word with character appearances and gestures. And concentrating the rest of the movie on the unraveling of those earlier events by forensic investigations. But I have no idea how long this conversion will take.
I like your approach tho.

[downrock.creative]

Really great tips, thanks! I’m looking forward to checking out more of your content.

[jess_]

Amazing amazing video, thanks so much!

[mattherbert]

Great video thanks for the help. I am curious is there a rule to decide if a book should be a feature? Like Harry Potter went as a move but Game of Thrones went as a show.

[d-jemme]

wouldn't an interior monologue potentially be a voiceover tho?

[DanielDuhon]

Here’s the problem with screenwriting books: they all kill creativity. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice ideas to fit a template.

[BrunoCosta-wnft]

Since when it's anything from Stage 32 free? I've checked their website lately and everything they offer is paid.

[royaltypoetry]

Has anyone paid for their services before?