From The Shelf To Box Office

By Dammie Blaq

Sherlock Holmes, the twilight saga, les miserables, Beowulf, animal farm, harry porter series and hosts of others all has something in common.

They are works of fiction. By works of fiction I mean they are novels written at different times but also share other peculiar characteristics which is – they were adapted into a movie, they made huge box office returns, they were successful pieces of art.

Notably, among the most successful fiction-turn-movies are the hunger games written by Suzanne Collins that sold over 24 million copies worldwide; the ripple effect was also felt in its adaptation into movies.

The movie also made over $300million. The entirety of books that left the shelves for the box office has raked billions of dollars for Hollywood.

This trend has been existing for so many years in Hollywood and thousands of popular films were made out of an adaptation of a book. Some are still being made as we speak.

This has been trendy in the world over most especially in the Hollywood but I guess the Nollywood is taking a good cue of this trend recently with various adaptations of works of literature into screenplay and teleplays.

Such are the narrow path produced by Tunde Kelani’s Mainframe productions and directed by Tunde Kelani himself - an adaptation of a novel Broken Pot, oleku and thunderbolt, things fall apart by chinua achebe that was written for the television, half of a yellow sun by chimamanda adichie and several other works still in the pipeline.

Several Nollywood movies are adjudged to lack story depth and good storytelling and according to the thespian in the literary world, book adaptations can rescue a lot of film producers from lack of options in the story they put on big screen.

The good advantage this would have on the reading culture of Nigerians would be enormous such as the popularity of the book would definitely increase hugely, it also mean more money for the author and loads of other benefits.

In case you have a book that you think passes for transition from the shelf to the box office, here are few things you should know about it.

A book is known for its indepth description and details of how it happens, when it happens, the circumstances surrounding the happenings, to whom and why.

Most especially, a book goes into descriptive details about the emotion of the act “the character” of the book but in a movie it is said that if you cannot see it, don’t write. Safe to say, seeing is believing.

If you are the author of the book, here are some tips for you.

- Get a screenwriter: you may need the help of another screenwriter to be able to break down your work for you. The essence of this goes beyond the protective gag you may have on the book being the writer. This will also give more depth to the story and the outcome will wow you especially when you have a very good screenwriter to work with. If you are a screenwriter yourself, it’s a good thing but it is advisable to make use of another screenwriter on the project.

- Pitch your book: if you already have a best selling novel like half of a yellow sun and its as popular as things fall apart, well it’s a good news. But it is not enough to have a popular book but yet not make a poplar movie. Well, if you are film producer it is yet another advantage for you need not pitch the book to any producer again but if you are traditionally a writer and nothing more, you need to learn the craft of pitching your book to a producer. Let them know the major reason why you think the book is good enough for the screen.