I’m certain that everyone has heard someone say that the book is better than the movie. I suspect that is almost always the case, because when you read a book, you create the images of the people and places in a way that pleases you or scares you. In a movie, someone else has done that for you. A casting director picked the characters, and the director picked how they wanted the settings to look right down to the most obscure details. Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to cross over from novels to screenplays. Here is a little bit about what the experience was like for me.
After the release of the Red Road, I was approached by a young lady who asked if I would be interested in working with a screenwriter. At first, I was skeptical, because independent publishing is filled with characters looking to advance your book (for a fee) that usually doesn’t equate to sales. But after researching Alan, I found that he was a legitimate screenwriter, and we entered into a plan to create a pilot for a series based upon the Red Road and the subsequent books. We then connected with a producer from Hollywood named Aaron and the three of us entered into a collaboration to create the pilot script.

Writing a script is a significantly different process than writing a book. The script of course is nearly all dialogue (which is my favorite part to write) and is visual in nature. Instead of saying what the character is thinking or feeling, you need to portray this in terms of their actions, facial expressions and tone. In a novel, we might say that Joe was seething. He could feel his blood pressure rising as the anger boiled up from within him. The screenplay version might look like this…Joe stands and grits his teeth, clenches his fists and his face turns red.
The settings are presented in a way to covey to the audience things that would typically be described in a book. For example, in a book we could describe an overflowing trashcan by what it smelled like, No one had emptied the trash in weeks and now the trailer smelled like a combination of old fish and cabbage.
In a screenplay, the notes might literally say… JOE enters a filthy trailer with the trash can overflowing surrounded by flies and visible maggots. Dirty dishes and pans covered in half eaten food litter the counters and scrunches his nose at the stench.
The other major difference is the contrast between Chapters and Scenes. In a book a chapter can go on forever and the characters could start out in an apartment, move to the street to meet a friend, then walk to a café and have coffee. In a script, each segment would be a scene because of the change in settings. The apartment would be one scene, the street one and the café would be the third. In one book I converted to a screenplay, the twenty-seven chapters ended up being just over sixty scenes.
Both formats are fun to write and while I might enjoy the screenwriting process, my first love will always be storytelling through books.
ever wanted to hear a TV pilot before everyone else? Well below is the link to a podcast of the TV pilot for the Red Road. It is performed by professional actors and has sounds and music like an old-time radio show. We use the podcasts to give potential studios as chance to hear what the script doesn't convey with just words. Give it a listen. Every person that listens, takes the pilot one step closer to production. Thank you for your continued support.
-Jonathan
Apple Podcast:
Spotify Podcast:
Comments