Some Random Thoughts About The Silver Screen

By Peg Brantley

Evocative Characters. Intriguing Crime. Compelling Stories


Have you read a book (or written one) that seems to translate easily to film? I've been told by several people that my books, especially The Missings, are meant to be movies. It tickles me.

But I'm not holding my breath.

The movie "Ray" took seventeen years to make. Talk about perserverance.

A lot of books... a lot of books... are optioned simply to take them off the market. Let's say Major Studio has laid out some Major Bucks to make a movie about how easy it is to target undocumented people and offer them the equivalent of the poor man's cash for gold by buying their spare kidney. Let's say Major Studio is still about three or four years away from a real movie when they catch a little thing on the internet somewhere about The Missings and decide they need to protect their investment. If I accept their offer my theoretical movie gets shelved.

But Major Studio, try me. I might be good with that.

Here are a couple of quick concepts if you're thinking about adapting your book and writing a script:

• Think visually.
• Simple sentences.
• A woman is sitting in front of a television. The sound is turned up. Behind her, a doorknob turns.
• Narrow the focus.
• While your novel might be 300 pages, the average screen play is 90-110 pages.
• Rule of thumb: 1 page = 1 minute of screen time
• Can you deviate?
• Damn straight. Cherry-pick your scenes.

Do you have a book (read or written) that you'd love to see made into a movie? What makes it a great candidate?