The first part of our article on adapting history for the screen looks at some things to think about before starting the process…

1. Will the story be sustainable over the length of a feature film? 

With a target length of about two hours (120 screenplay pages), it is important that the material can be adapted to fit. A newspaper report may not lend itself to being stretched to two hours, while a complex non-fiction book will need to be broken down and the strongest part of the story drawn out.

2. What kind of research is involved? 

Whatever kind of story is being adapted, there will be additional research involved. It is important to know the world of the characters, even if the research undertaken doesn’t end up on the page. This, however, can lead to information overload.

There’s more on this in part two of the article.

3. What to leave in, what to take out? 

It takes some work to shape a story into an effective film. For example, take a look at a book that’s been filmed, maybe it runs over 600 pages. Then take a look at the screenplay. Just by looking at the length and size of the two pieces gives an indication of how much work the screenwriter put in to deciding what to take out in order to make the film work.

The first thing to consider is the central story thread. Ask yourself what is essential to effectively tell the core story. Then start stripping the rest away. Conversely, in a shorter story, maybe the opposite is true. Maybe you need to add another dimension to the main plot, or subplots, or additional characters.

4. How much do I owe to the original? 

According to some of the books written on the adaptation process, the first rule is that the screenwriter owes nothing to the original work. The original material stands alone and the adaptation is a separate piece of work. To some extent that is probably true. However, adaptations based on factual material come with further complications, such as the need to respect the lives of people being fictionalised.

5. The legal bit 

If you want to sell a screenplay adapted from something someone else wrote, you usually need to obtain the rights. There are exceptions to this, but it is important to start looking into this early on to avoid problems later when the producers start calling.

For part two of the article, we return to the research process and offer a few tips.