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Film adaptations of your stories

Ireth

Myth Weaver
The long, flowing hair that is depicted on many female warriors on cheesy paperback covers says one thing to me: here is a great handle, as soon as I get a handful of that hair, I'm gonna control her head and she's toast.

Heheh. not a female example, but Glorfindel in Tolkien's Silmarillion learned that the hard way. Shoved a Balrog off a mountain, only for it to drag him down after it by his long golden hair. ^^; Owie.
 

Mindfire

Istar
Heheh. not a female example, but Glorfindel in Tolkien's Silmarillion learned that the hard way. Shoved a Balrog off a mountain, only for it to drag him down after it by his long golden hair. ^^; Owie.

He...got better somehow though. Shows up again in LOTR. I'm guessing after that incident he cut his hair shorter to prevent a repeat incident.
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
Yeah, he did come back to life after a time in the Halls of Mandos. Elves can do that. Though I don't think he cut his hair any shorter the next time around -- I seem to remember it being described as long and flowing when he first meets Frodo and company.

Oops, thread hijack. ^^; Sorry.
 

SlimShady

Troubadour
Well, my main project has been intentionally written with so many epic battle scenes that it would be impossible to film. The plot itself is so long and complex that no movie could ever do my story justice. (Not bragging in any way, just saying that no film could actually make something good out of it without utterly butchering it of course)
I don't trust fantasy movie makers anyways after seeing such terrible garbage as Conan and Eragon, both of which butchered the books. Although, Eragon didn't have much of a chance anyways. :tongue:
 

Jabrosky

Banned
I actually enjoyed the recent Conan movie, though Eragon reminded me too much of the first Star Wars for my taste.

My biggest concern with a cinema adaptation of my current story is how its heroine would be cast. She's an attractive, dark-skinned African woman (think Oluchi Onweagba or Atong Arjok), the kind of woman that Hollywood avoids casting in lead roles like the plague. That her eventual boyfriend will be a white guy on par with Robert Pattinson in the handsomeness department would almost certainly exacerbate things.

Still, I can always tell Hollywood that I will sell it the rights to my story only on certain conditions.
 

Kit

Maester
You normally lose control of EVERYTHING once you sell it.

You know why Game Of Thrones is so good? Because George has decades of television experience, and so had enough experience and heft to get away with having his hand in a lot more than most authors do. He gets to help write some of the scripts, gets to help pick the actors- most authors don't get to do ANYTHING like that.

I shudder to begin to imagine what anorexic blonde surgically-enhanced model Hollywood would cast as my female warrior MC. :furious::cry:
 

SlimShady

Troubadour
Well Conan wasn't really a bad movie per se. It was an average action adventure flick, but it didn't do Robert E. Howard's stories any justice.

Come to think of it I can really remember any good fantasy movies at all. Lord of the Rings was good. The Narnia ones were alright. Harry Potter was pretty good. If it weren't for Game of Thrones I wouldn't have any fantasy to watch at all. (Watching LoTR over and over gets boring)
 

Jabrosky

Banned
You normally lose control of EVERYTHING once you sell it.

You know why Game Of Thrones is so good? Because George has decades of television experience, and so had enough experience and heft to get away with having his hand in a lot more than most authors do. He gets to help write some of the scripts, gets to help pick the actors- most authors don't get to do ANYTHING like that.

I shudder to begin to imagine what anorexic blonde surgically-enhanced model Hollywood would cast as my female warrior MC. :furious::cry:

Sounds like bad news for me. :(

What does your MC look like in your head right now?
 

Ghost

Inkling
One thing that turned me away from script writing was a 'how to' book that at the very beginning made it clear that scripts are not novels.

That wouldn't bother me. I wouldn't write a graphic novel the same way I'd write a regular novel, either. They're different mediums. The thing that turns me off of writing scripts, aside from lack of know-how, is how incestuous and closed that industry is. It would be very difficult for someone like me to break into it. (Those Syfy originals make me wonder, though.)

Another thing is the amount of compromising you have to do. My impression is that other people make the final decision as to what goes into the movie unless you produce and direct the film yourself in addition to writing the script. Novels can have similar hoops to jump through, but it doesn't seem like there are as many middlemen.

Where does everyone find these books about bikini chainmail? I've seen those book covers, but I always thought it was a marketing gimmick. Are those women really IN the books? :eek2:
 

Kit

Maester
What does your MC look like in your head right now?

I'm not entirely sure yet. I'm more interested in what she's doing and thinking than in what she looks like. It's starting to look as if she may turn out to look Chinese or Nepali, though. Which means you and I will be in the same boat!

I know what she is *NOT*- 6'2 and 84lb, blonde, with no muscles, botoxed lips like Donald Duck, and breasts the size of basketballs. Which means I'm probably not gonna like whomever Hollywood would want to cast.

She does not wear a chainmail bikini, or anything else that makes her look like she ought to be popping out of a cake at a 1970's bachelor party.

Although having her look like I'd imagined her would be nice, I'd settle for just having a realistic body type for a fighter. Seeing women on the big screen pretending to fight when they have zero muscle mass and obviously couldn't lift a case of (diet) Coke without help irritates me almost as much as chainmail bikinis. Women who fight- even women who TRAIN, who just do kata and never compete or spar- have MUSCLES! (And you know what else- we look damn good, if that matters!)

If they cast a bimbo with too much cosmetic surgery, but she at least had some muscle in her biceps, I might not have to commit seppuku on opening night of the film.
 
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Kit

Maester
Where does everyone find these books about bikini chainmail? I've seen those book covers, but I always thought it was a marketing gimmick. Are those women really IN the books? :eek2:

Usually not, thank the Gods! I think the number of authors moronic enough to write chainmail bikinis is far outstripped (heh) by the number of publishers who are moronic enough to still think men won't read a book unless they put a bimbo in fetishwear on the cover.

But doesn't it drive anyone else nuts when you finish reading a book, look at the cover and think, "Who the hell are these people on the cover? None of them look like any of the characters in this book. And how can that girl swing a sword while wearing nothing but two pieces of dental floss?"

I fear that watching a movie adaptation of one of my works would be akin to 2 hours of the same- sitting there thinking in dismay, "Who are these people, what are they doing, and who dressed them?!?"
 
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Jabrosky

Banned
Where does everyone find these books about bikini chainmail? I've seen those book covers, but I always thought it was a marketing gimmick. Are those women really IN the books? :eek2:

I don't describe my MC's clothing in my story, but I have drawn her and plead guilty to giving her an exposed midriff (although her costume still covers more than a bikini). However, Africa does have a hot climate, so neither warriors nor women wore a lot of clothing or armor anyway.

On the other hand, a Northern European chick like Red Sonja in a bikini would die of hypothermia unless she was vacationing in the tropics, in which case she'd die of skin cancer instead.
 

Kit

Maester
I don't describe my MC's clothing in my story, but I have drawn her and plead guilty to giving her an exposed midriff (although her costume still covers more than a bikini). However, Africa does have a hot climate, so neither warriors nor women wore a lot of clothing or armor anyway.

On the other hand, a Northern European chick like Red Sonja in a bikini would die of hypothermia unless she was vacationing in the tropics, in which case she'd die of skin cancer instead.

You can get away with a climate-appropriate midriff, as long as the outfit as a whole passes the "practical for actual fighting" test.

Kit's First Law For Fantasy Writing:
"Thou shalt not put thy female warriors in cheesy chainmail bikinis. Visualize your female warrior in battle. Now visualize her popping out of a cake at a 1970's bachelor party. If scenario #2 looks more cohesive, you have sexually objectified your female warrior too much. Dress her in something else."
 
If I ever have something that someone wants to option for a visual medium, I'm afraid I'm probably going to say, "Yeah, yeah, whatever, give me a check and go do whatever you want" and then forget about it. Because, you know, money.
 
If I ever have something that someone wants to option for a visual medium, I'm afraid I'm probably going to say, "Yeah, yeah, whatever, give me a check and go do whatever you want" and then forget about it. Because, you know, money.

I've given this at least 30 seconds of thought. :) If you sell the rights to your book for them to make a movie, and they make something that is a hit, you sell lots of books and get major recognition. Even if it's crappy, it is likely to sell books and make you more money. I'm not seeing much of a downside to this.

So, I think I have to agree, except I think I'd rather have a percentage of the profit over a one time payment. Preferably gross profit, not net.
 
If I ever have something that someone wants to option for a visual medium, I'm afraid I'm probably going to say, "Yeah, yeah, whatever, give me a check and go do whatever you want" and then forget about it. Because, you know, money.

Same, except that I would be so ridiculously excited that I had sold enough books and garnered enough interest to justify making even the crappiest of movies. It wouldn't be "Yeah, yeah, whatever," it would be "Hell yeah sign me up is there anything I can do?"
 

Rhi Paille

Dreamer
Do you ever fantasize about your published stories being adapted into movies? I do. I find myself more motivated to write if I imagine that after I finish and publish my book, someone is going to adapt it into a movie (preferably either animated or with a lot of CGI). Occasionally I even wonder which actors would portray my characters.

I used to, but after Twilight and the Hunger Games, I've realized something: when you read a book you become the characters in that book, maybe not all of them but someone resonates with you. In a movie, you watch the action but you're not living it. I guess reading is more like virtual reality than watching movies is.

Now, had they turned Hunger Games into virtual reality, I think we'd all be having heart attacks.

"But there are much worse games to play."

Best.End.Line.Ever.
 

SeverinR

Vala
I picture the world I write in color, I don't try to picture it on a screen, or even consider how the film guys will portray it.
I figure let my imagination create it on paper, then let their imagination create the movie image.
They are the amazing artist, it is our job to inspire them to go farther then they ever have before.

Besides, I think with tech the way it is, if you write for todays tech, it will be old hat by the time its printed.

Kit: You are against ladies in skimpy chainmaille?
Is it ever wrong to have women in maille attracting attention?
The world needs more maille.

This message brought to you by a member of Maille artisans internation league. (It has a nice ring to it. -rimshot)
 
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