by Dan Walsh, @DanWalshAuthor

If you follow me on FB or Twitter, you might already know…one of my Bucket List items is likely going to happen, probably in the 2nd half of 2019. That is, one of my novels is being made into a feature film (The Reunion). It’s been in the works for 2 years, but after chatting recently with the writer/director who’s adapting the book into a screenplay (as of this writing he’s almost done), and one of the producers for the project, they tell me some very big name actors and investors are already interested and waiting to read the script. They’re hoping to have the casting and all the pre-production tasks completed between now and this summer, then start shooting in the Fall.

We’ll see. I sure hope that’s how it goes from here.

In any case, I couldn’t be happier with the guy who’s writing the script. You may have heard of him, Nick Vallelonga. Nick very recently won the Golden Globe and the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for his movie, Green Book (he also won those same awards as a producer for the film, because Green Book also won in the Best Picture category – here’s a pic of Nick holding his 2 Oscars).

Clearly, my book is in good hands. And Nick and I have become good friends, and he’s completely committed to keeping the script as true to the book as possible, including the faith elements.

Even with all that said, I’m pretty sure even after the film is made (and hopefully becomes a smash hit), people who’ve read my book and then see the film will undoubtedly say, “The movie was good, but the book was better.”

Why do I say that? Because that’s what everyone always says about a book-turned-into-a-movie. “The Book was better.” A couple of years ago, I was speaking at a charter school to a middle-school group of honor students. It was a creative writing class, and all the kids said they wanted to be writers when they grew up.

Knowing most writers are avid readers, I asked how many of them liked to read novels. Every hand went up. I said, “Name some books you’ve read that were turned into movies.” Everyone began calling out popular movie names, lots of examples were shared. Then I asked, “Keep your hand up if you liked any of the movies better than the books?”

Every hand went down.

I asked it another way, “Did any of you like any of the movies better than any of the books? Raise your hand.” No one did. So, then we talked about why this is so. That’s what I want to talk about with you, this month and next month. Why the book is almost always better than the movie.

See, having worked fairly closely with Nick (and several other movie creative types) in the last few years, I’ve learned a little bit about that world and some of the unique storytelling challenges they face.  The first one I want to address goes directly to the reason the book is always better.

Turns out, most movie scripts are only between 100-120 pages long. The rule of thumb is, 1 page of script per minute of film. So, a 2-hour movie script would only be around 120 pages long. You can see the challenge right away. Most full-length novels average 300 pages, or more. The Reunion is just a few pages shy of 300.

Talking with Nick, this has been his biggest challenge adapting it into a screenplay. Nick absolutely loved the book, as is. As novels go, he thought it was perfect and wouldn’t change a thing. But, there’s the rub. Even as a 2-hour movie, he has to cut out almost 2/3 of the book to get the story to fit the time constraint.

Of course, you can shave a few pages because you don’t have to describe very much in the script. One pan of the camera, and you set the scene. But that only takes out a little (especially in my books, I’m definitely a minimalist when it comes to descriptive paragraphs).

But see, this kind of challenge happens every time a novel is made into a movie. Can you imagine completing your full-length novel, and having an editor hand it back to you saying, “Okay, we like it, but we need you to delete 200 pages, but still keep the story intact.”

There are other reasons why I believe people always like the book better (we’ll talk about some next time). But this one alone has given me a new depth of sympathy and appreciation for screenwriters who try and tackle such a seemingly insurmountable storytelling challenge as this.

Perilous Treasure

Young history Professor Jack Turner is settling into his new position at Culpepper University when he gets a surprise visit from his friend, police Sgt. Joe Boyd. Joe has started a new hobby, a fun pastime that’s also helping him lose some weight — metal detecting. Joe asks if he can do this on Jack’s lakefront property, which includes over a dozen acres of woods. Intrigued by a hobby that combines physical exercise and Jack’s love of history, Jack asks to tag along. Neither man has any idea that this seemingly harmless hobby will cause their paths to cross with a 70-year-old mystery involving tragedy, smuggling, multiple murders and stolen Nazi loot. It’s just an innocent hobby Jack tells his wife, Rachel. Really, what could go wrong?