Agreed. I know a little about writing, but I know jack squat about producing a movie. I’d probably do as much harm as good!
I’ll let people who know what they’re doing make the movie, and I hope it does well at the box office, so I’ll have a better chance of selling another!
Besides, from what I’ve heard, “retaining control” is pretty limited. I can’t go out there and tell the director what camera angles to use. A script is only a recipe; it’s the actual making (like baking) that ruins the final product.
This for me as well. I would take solace in the knowledge that everyone will say the book was better anyway. Of course, if they say the movie is really great, I’d worry - the best adaptations typically come from really bad books (Jaws, Bourne Identity…).
I’d imagine that my input on the movie set would be minimal in terms of actual creative or technical contributions, and more a whole lot of “Why did you do that for? Change it!” at regular intervals.
I wonder how long they would let me get away with that before they just insisted that I take the full $2 million and booted me out of there.
I’m with George RR Martin on this one. It’s like sending your kids off to school. You can go full on helicopter parent and micromanage elementary school teachers or you can accept that for all the input you’re allowed, you should let go a bit and let the experts do their thing.
That said, picking the right schools and teachers in the first place is kind of important.
I might have chosen the $2 million if the OP didn’t specify the producer was going to screw it up.
If they remove a plot thread - fine, since that has to be done to make the movie less than 4 hours long. If they make the heroine a blonde instead of a brunette, also fine. If they say the aliens the heroes meet helped the Egyptians build the pyramids, not so fine.
I wouldn’t bet on people going back to the book. In most cases far more people will see the movie. And often the book is forgotten. Who but a small contingent of geeks remembers that Robert Bloch wrote Psycho, especially today?
There’s very little I won’t do for a check with seven digits on it, and I am not kidding at all when I say that. Short of visiting harm upon someone else, or doing something that would cause me agonizing pain (I won’t do a BDSM session, for example), I’ll do anything for the right price. And $2 million is well beyond what I’d consider the right price.
If someone took my Great American Novel that explores themes of racial, cultural, and political divide among the American public, and turned it into a Michael Bay ejaculation full of explosions and titties, in exchange for $2 million, I would cry all the way to the bank. And anyone who wants to can call me a whore while I cash the check. But by day’s end, I’ll be on a beach in Cabo with a drink in one hand and a spliff in the other, while the haters will still be at the bank, grumbling about what a whore I am.
Is it my work of genius? A book I’ve poured my heart and soul into that fully explores an important issue and lays out my personal life philosophy in the lives of characters that I love like my very own children?
Or is it just a cool story that just happened to catch on?
If it’s the former, I’m probably not selling at all. If it’s the latter, I still probably want some control over some things (I’d be concerned with whitewashing in casting), but I would probably be willing to give most of it up for the second mil.
While Kubrick’s name wasn’t on the book, it was more of a collaboration, so I’m not sure it counts.
I mentioned the Harry Potter films. The early ones in particular had a lot of input from here since they couldn’t put anything in which would screw up the plot lines of later books yet unpublished.
The best choice would be a novelist/director, but neither John Sayles nor Nicholas Meyer seems to have directed any of their books.
Take home a decent pot of change and do jack shit beyond that other than sit back and enjoy myself or
Accept half the amount I would have gotten for doing nothing so that I can work my ass off some more on a enormous clusterfuck of a group project?
Sometimes other people’s questions really baffle we when they get auto-translated in my own head. What is the next poll, $100 or a swift kick to the nuts?
I’m not a professional writer or a professional film producer.
If I were talented enough to be a bestselling writer, the chances that I’m also talented enough to produce an excellent film are low. The idea that the film would turn out better if only the writer had maintained creative control is a fantasy.
The real tough question would be how much less I’d be willing to accept to have someone else make the movie.
If they’re paying me $2 million they can put Justin F’ing Bieber and Miley F’ing Cyrus in the starring roles and I won’t utter a discouraging word.
mmm
I agree with what dracoi said in the very first response.
98% of my reasoning is based on there-are-more-important-things-than-money type reasons. But the other 2% is based on the hope that a movie that was faithful to my novel would be more successful, critically and commercially, than one that betrayed its vision, and that that could have a significant effect on not only my future sales but also on my ability to sell the movie rights to any subsequent novels I might write.
Yeah, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. The original writer is sometimes not the best person to ask. They might hate it for reasons that are at best tangential to making a good movie.
Truman Capote and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” for example.
Or Roald Dahl and “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”.
Stephen King reportedly hated Kubrick’s version of “The Shining”.
In that particular case, King got to do his own mini-series version in the 90s, writing the adaptation himself, produced, and even pulled some minor assistant director duties. The result was certainly more faithful to the novel, but it’s not exactly a surprise that Kubrick did a better cinematic job than King, true to the novel or not.
I understand a certain amount of pride is involved, but it takes some real chutzpah to think that success in one medium will easily translate to success in another. It does happen, but it’s the exception not the rule.
Novels and TV/film are different beasts. Take the money and run. You might hate the result, but it might actually be better without your input.