The “Make My Book into a Movie!” Scam

movie making scamsRecently I got an email from a friend who was all abuzz about a prospect to turn his book into a movie. He had taken my class on self-publishing a while back, and had dutifully completed all the steps and published his first book. The book was a memoir, and although he wasn’t interested in continuing writing as a career, who doesn’t like hearing that his/her book is fascinating enough to become a movie?

The email was as follows: Continue reading “The “Make My Book into a Movie!” Scam”

One Billion Reader Views on Wattpad = Publishing and Movie Deal

wattpadJust like the redheaded girl from science class, Wattpad often goes unnoticed, and is usually underestimated. Wattpad is a site where authors can post stories or segments of their stories and readers can read them and interact with the author. Currently it’s one of the top one thousand most viewed websites in the U.S. and is in the top fifteen hundred worldwide (according to Alexa). Those are exceptionally impressive rankings. The site boasts thirty-five million readers, and because Wattpad is mobile-friendly, most readers are reading on their portable devices. Although Young Adult releases seem to be their most popular categories, there is serious traffic in all genres. Continue reading “One Billion Reader Views on Wattpad = Publishing and Movie Deal”

10 Things That Can Harsh Your Book-to-Movie Buzz

The biggest hope of many authors these days is having a book adapted to film. Screw the Big 6/5/4 (whatever) Publishers. When there’s a starburst on your book cover that reads “Now a major motion picture,” you’ve really made it.

Still, few authors are going to have the kind of clout needed to call the shots about translating the book to the screen. That is very likely going to mean the movie will be different from the book, and WAY different than you imagined it.

An author’s artistic integrity is a precious thing. We also hope that a great movie will drive book sales even higher.

Sadly, Hollywood doesn’t always get it right. Here is my list of the top ten different ways Hollywood can snatch failure from the jaws of success in making an adaptation: Continue reading “10 Things That Can Harsh Your Book-to-Movie Buzz”

Meet the Movie Producer

Once in a while the Facebook gods smile on a poor, hapless individual such as myself. I don’t have thousands of friends, I like my comfort zone. But there are times I will reach out to someone and make a friend request. I’d seen a post by a friend, and there were several replies to it. One person’s replies intrigued me, so I sent a friend request. He accepted, and little did I know, that’s how I met a movie producer and screenwriter.

Daniel Noe, of Minority Pictures, LLC, has been in the business over 30 years. He’s spent six of that running his own company and another 24 in various “ATL” and “BTL” positions (these are industry terms for budget. “Above The Line” refers to Producers, Director, and Lead talent. “Below The Line” refers to the various pre-production/production departments and post-production).

I asked him if I could interview him for both my blog and the IU blog, he readily agreed. I typed up 10 questions that I thought would-be screenwriting authors might like to know. Yes, my inquiring mind wanted to know too! Continue reading “Meet the Movie Producer”