Auteur, Auteur: Asking Direct(or) Questions
Posted by: Neil Hollands
Most book groups have compared a book selection to a film adaptation or played the game where you cast roles in the book with actors you think appropriate. I’m always fascinated by the diversity of opinion in the actors who different readers find suited for characters. It’s a quick object lesson in how readers can interpret the same book very differently!
More questions that ask readers to think like a director or screenwriter can also be illuminating, questions that book groups ask less often. These other questions have the added benefit of not requiring familiarity with particular movies or actors, only that readers understand the idea of visual thinking.
First, ask which scenes your budding screenwriters might remove. Remember that the typical screenplay is only 100 to 120 pages. Visual descriptions can be saved by pictures, but cuts are still necessary. Which scenes in the book form the story’s core, and which might be peeled away? It’s an interesting way to get at core concepts.
Conversely, which scene in the book do readers consider most critical to get right in a film? Which scenes would be most difficult for actors? These questions can enlighten the climax, the most profound scenes, or those with the most emotional resonance.
What elements would your readers change if they were writing or directing the film? Would they remove, condense, or change any characters? Adjust any settings? Play with the ending? Revise the order of some of the scenes?
Finally, ask which elements from the book would not work in the time limits and visual medium of film. Are there too many characters? Too much back story? Little dialogue and lots of interior moments? By pursuing this question, you’ll gain an appreciation of the difference between the challenges of the novelist and the filmmaker and understand which books can probably not be made into movies and why.
A side benefit of thinking like a director is that it puts readers in a visual frame of mind, a style of thinking that suits many people well and is likely to help your group catch some wonderful details that it might otherwise gloss over.
Are you ready? Start talking on the set! Action!
