Note From Tongal: “Adapting IP: What to Keep, Toss, and Completely Rewrite" is part of a series of Tongal Community-written blog posts that were originally sourced in the Tongal Blog Open Call Project. Read more Tongal Community-written posts here and then Pitch us a topic you'd like to write about for the Tongal Blog!
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Coming soon to a screen of a to-be-determined size is that weird toy given to you by your least favorite relative on the first vacation of your life in the summer of 1989. You know the one you wrongly put in your mouth and chipped a tooth that you fortunately lost a few years later. And while the Tooth Fairy replaced that pitiful junior enamel with five dollars, John Hollywood and Jane Advertising are now hoping to bank on that fuzzy, late-80s memory in their latest cinematic gamble.
Everything being made today is based on Intellectual Property (IP). As writers and creators, we are often asked to evaluate and give our "take" on whether a book, article, or graphic novel would make a good feature film or TV series. Adapting and translating this work can sometimes be difficult and not obvious.
Here is our guide on how to approach an adaptation:
Ask Questions
Ask whoever controls the intellectual property why they have it. What do they like about it? What is their personal connection to it? And, what are the comparable pieces of entertainment they could see this standing side by side with if executed the way they see it in their head? This will help you decide if you want to pursue the project; if you and the rights holder see the adaptation in a similar light. This will help you set up the expectations for the property.
Understand the strengths and limitations of the source material
If it’s a piece of reputable journalism, then you know it was well-researched. If it’s a novel, then you know some of the classic literary devices will not translate as well (i.e., first-person narration). If it’s a graphic novel, then you know that it relies heavily on the visuals to get the story across. If it’s a video game or toy, there might be less of a backstory to draw from. Then you have to look at the actual piece of IP that you’ve been tasked to adapt and make a list of what is and isn’t working in the story and what will or won’t work in the medium you are bringing it to.
What to Keep
Make a list of everything that you think is essential to telling the story in the new medium. Take the mile markers of the original source material and start to see where it would land. If it’s a feature, what is there in the story that would make a good inciting incident, end of Act I turn, midpoint, and end of Act II turn? If it’s a TV series, what would be the main act outs of the pilot, what would be the cliffhanger of the pilot, and what should be saved for future episodes? And if there’s a wealth of source material, decide how you would parse it over multiple seasons.
What to Throw Out
The original source material may very well have storylines, characters, and moments that do not need to go into the feature or TV project. It is your job to identify what that is and discard it. Make the wrong choice and the internet trolls will haunt your mentions for the rest of your life. As long as you are honoring the core of the IP and staying true to the direction you choose, you should be in decent shape. You will never be able to please everybody, so the less time you spend trying to, the more time you’ll have to nail whatever attracted you to the project.
What to Make Your Own
Which brings us to one of the most important points... What do you like about the IP? What is your personal connection to it, and why were you drawn in? Hundreds of people have written Batman, but not all of their parents have been killed in Crime Alley. They had to find another way in to relate and make the character their own.
If you were bullied for being left-handed and the main character in this piece doesn’t have a left hand, then that is something you might want to use. Use it to land the IP, use it as your way of connecting with material you didn’t originate yourself. Use it to navigate the choppy adaptation waters when everyone is telling you what this property needs to be.
At some point in the process, you will have to claim ownership of the work, so don’t be a tourist. This isn’t a museum, you don’t have to stand behind the faint yellow line and only observe, you can lift up the glass, put your hands on the item and reshape it.
You should deeply respect that you are now playing in someone else’s sandbox, but you didn’t break into the backyard in the middle of the night while the family was away on vacation, you were invited in! So, in that sandbox is the pre-existing characters and their story and now… you. And you are being asked to play, so the worst thing you can do is forget to participate.
