Writing A Novel Versus A Screenplay - Anna David

Anna David is the New York Times bestselling author of two novels and six non-fiction books. She has appeared repeatedly on Today, The Talk, Good Morning America and had a running segment on G4’s Attack of the Show that she co-hosted with Olivia Munn for three years. Her company, Legacy Launch Pad, writes and publishes books for thought leaders and her podcast has featured interviews with authors such as Robert Greene and Chris Voss. Her first book, Party Girl, is in development as a film tentatively scheduled to be shot in 2023.

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#writing #author #screenwriting

[madambutterfly]

So just because any novelist can write their own screenplay doesn't mean every novelist should write their own screenplay.

[variancewithin]

Screenplay: writing what you see and hear on the screen in an emotional way as the story.

Novel: writing what you think and feel and recollect as the story

[julius-stark]

I actually wrote a screenplay that I realized was just too big and made it into a novel that I'm really proud of which blows the script I wrote out of the water. The problem is that Hollywood, especially current Hollywood, has a really hard time staying faithful to the IP they buy. They want the mental real-estate that comes with the IP, but they don't actually want to cater to the people who made that IP popular.

[pierbover]

Scripts are only about what happens. In novels the prose itself is super important but also the descriptions and stuff that cannot be described in a movie. Smells, thoughts, sensations, etc. You can't really describe fear in a movie unless a character is talking about it.

[ksworld]

Spooky this dropping when it did. The first of the year, I’m taking one of my screenplays/IPs and turning it into a novel… and just so happens to be about the last ten years in Hollywood NOT being able to get my scripts/IP(s) made and what a nightmare it’s been. So, I’m going the opposite direction, screenplays to novel.

[danieljackson]

Wonderful advice: establish intellectual property before the screenplay. So; I'm on track. Thank you.

[cinnamonshiva]

This is my favourite channel on youtube. What a treasure trove. Thanks Film Courage

[simplyme]

This is so exciting!!! She's an exciting writer, person. Love this.

[VinnyTheory]

This woman asks THE BEST questions. I think I’ve watched almost every one of your videos at this point but it’s endless and it’s AMAZING

[interstellarbeatteller]

A screenplay is just a Novel that's missing 200 pages!

[scottslotterbeck]

Writing a novel is a thousand times more difficult than writing a screenplay.

[alicial]

Brilliant. To all embarking on the journey of writing novels and screenplays, good luck, not that you'll need too much of that if you study or have studied storytelling.

[RDSimpson]

I write my screen play first and use it as a backbone for my novelettes the if I can make the film and rip the sound to make audio book ; great interview

[batman]

As someone who writes prose, my attempts at screenwriting have failed. I find screen directions to be especially difficult. I always want to make them too detailed. Ideally, I would love to co-write my first screenplay with a more experienced screenwriter. I could write the dialogue; they could write the screen directions.

[chadhenderson]

Thanks for making these! I’m a huge fan. Props to the interviewer for making each interview unique and focused on what the interviewee has to say!

[scottslotterbeck]

Yes, look at the films being made. Almost all are based on a book.

[Matt_Mosley]

I hate the term 'I.P'. It just means 'interlectual property ' ... which ALL screenplays are, so when companies say they are looking for 'I.P' scripts it drives me crazy. Just say 'adaptations'.

[scottwatrous]

I think there is a good point being made that just about anyone who's read a book, has seen the final product as written word and can essentially reverse engineer the process if nothing else. But you can't watch a movie and reverse-engineer what a good script looks like.

I do think that there's something lately as well to be said for "should this novel be a movie, or a TV-series?" because some books are dense and full of details that build up, and those might really need 1 or even 2 seasons of hour-long prestige-length episodes to even start to faithfully adapt the full novel. And then that opens up a whole new can of worms in that the series will have a writers room, showrunners, multiple directors, etc. Which makes it very hard for a novel writer to just transition from writing their book to penning a whole season's worth of TV.

There are a few examples where the novel became a show and the author was in the loop. The Expanse series had the book authors as permanent staff in the writer's room for the whole run, who soon became executive producers, and they were there to make sure that whatever had to be adapted, things stayed on track. But that's a very rare thing from what I understand.

[dchick]

As someone trying to adapt her novel into a screenplay, this was super interesting. My biggest hurdle is conveying things visually, internal thoughts, descriptions, etc. Novel writing is much easier, at least to me.

[lakeshagadson]

this conversation reminds me of something I saw on tv