Welcome to this three-part miniseries about the book-to-movie process. This is episode 3.
I’ll be sharing some of what I learned when my memoir, Pieces of Me: Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters, became Stolen By Their Father on Lifetime Television, and mistakes I made (and nearly made) throughout the process. I’ll answer questions some of you have asked, relying on my experience and my research that included speaking with a screenwriter, a producer, an author-turned screenwriter, and an author who signed too many rights away when optioning her memoir.
Authors! You’re invited to my free masterclass on May 4 or 5th.
Sign up here! May 4
In this minisode, you will learn:
* Writers should re-consider chasing trends when considering writing a book that they hope will become a movie due to long writing and production timelines.
*Books with book buzz and press are at times favored by producers.
* A movie adapted from a book does not guarantee any automatic great benefits to the author in the form of finances, platform, or future book sales but is rather another part of your author business card that can be leveraged should you assertively choose to do so.
Resources that helped shape these minisodes:
https://www.janefriedman.com/how-to-sell-your-screenplay/
https://www.janefriedman.com/what-kind-of-book-translates-well-to-screen/
https://www.janefriedman.com/books-to-film-option-versus-shopping-agreement/
Fabulous round table with writing and film experts on Lit Hub- https://lithub.com/literary-roundtable-how-does-a-book-get-adapted-for-tv-or-film/
Susan Joyce, author at https://susanjoycejourneys.com/
Susan recommends:Masterclass with Shonda Rhimes.https://www.masterclass.com/classes/shonda-rhimes-teaches-writing-for-televisionStage 32, a public forum.
How My First Novel Became a Movie by Caren Lissner, published in The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/09/how-my-first-novel-became-a-movie/539430/
Bio: Lizbeth Meredith is an author, speaker, and online teacher. Her book, Pieces of Me: Rescuing My Kidnapped Daughters is now a Lifetime movie, Stolen By Their Father, available also on Amazon Prime.