How To Turn Your Book Into An Animated Series

As more than streaming services come into beingness, stories are needed more now than ever. Tim Hawken shares his experience turning a book into a Idiot box serial, what (and who) you need to know, and how to bring that dream closer to reality.

Having your book turned into a film or Television series is every author'southward dream. With streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, and more buying upwardly content left, right and center, there has never been a better time to be putting a pitch together for your own story.

But where on globe do you outset and what practice you lot demand for the best shot at having it picked up? I recently went through this process for my Hellbound Trilogy of books, teamed upward with screenwriter/producer Ken Kabatoff (Travelers on Netflix) and actor Charlie Bewley (Twilight, The Vampire Diaries). The experience taught me a lot about putting a pitch together, too as managing emotions and expectations throughout the process.

Here'due south a stride by pace guide on what y'all need for a pitch and who you'll demand to think nearly attaching to the project to get it over the line.

1. Discover The Right Partners

A TV show isn't built in a vacuum and neither is a Television set pitch. At the very least, you'll want people to give you feedback. Amend yet, you'll have a writing partner or a team to assist push the projection'southward momentum forrad.

For me, it all started later an editor of a magazine I had written for gave an player friend of his (Charlie Bewley) the starting time book in the Hellbound series. Charlie identified with the atomic number 82 character Michael, and so got in bear upon direct asking if he could help bring the story to the screen. He in turn was friends with a few screenwriters and suggested up-and-coming talent Ken Kabatoff for the job.

You could say information technology was blind luck that this all happened (in a sense it was) just remember, I'd done the piece of work to write a book in the commencement place and put information technology in the hands of the right people.

Lightning has since struck twice with another actor getting in bear upon out of the blue to piece of work on a different projection. Sew your own seeds and they should also grow. Hustle to get your book to people who know folks in the business concern, or go direct by looking at shows in a like genre and looking at writers that might fit.

Of class, the creators of Game of Thrones aren't looking for their adjacent job, they have more than enough offers on the table. But plenty of screenwriters are hustling for their next gig equally much equally you and are willing to put in the hours to create something. IMDB is a great resource here to not only find possible leads for writing partners, by finding other talent to attach as things progress (more on this later on).

two. Write A Pilot

A Television receiver airplane pilot is a script of your kickoff episode for the series. Every pitch needs at to the lowest degree i total episode written out, to evidence the worth of the story and to evidence whoever is writing the thing actually knows what they're doing.

Thankfully, I'd been approached by Ken and Charlie on this front, after Charlie had read and loved the series. Ken and I worked to put together a workable typhoon, so polished information technology upward until it shone.

Screenwriting is quite different from novels, so information technology was huge to have an experienced person guiding this along and doing the lion'due south share of the work. I acted more than of an advisor to the story, making sure the concept stayed true to the books.

Be warned that there will likely be scenes in your ain work that might not work visually on the screen. Some things need to be tweaked to suit, and so find a skillful balance of protecting the integrity of the work, while beingness flexible to adjust scenes and maybe even combining two minor characters into one.

If you're writing the thing yourself and aren't quite sure where to start, I recommend reading a few good pilot scripts to get a experience for the structure and stride. This article is besides quite helpful when it comes to hints and tips.

3. Write a Prove Bible

A bear witness bible is a pitch document that outlines the world your story is fix in, summarizes the central narrative arc of the season, sketches out key characters and offers an episode-by-episode breakup of the start flavor.

Assuming you're going beyond a unmarried flavor, which nearly shows would similar to, you should also outline what will happen in seasons 2, 3 and beyond. If y'all've got a series of books, and so it makes sense to follow the aforementioned pattern and have each season based on a single book.

Because a lot of show bibles can look a scrap bland, nosotros also deputed concept artist John Gallagher to bring the world of Hellbound to life visually. It's quite a cool mode to prompt the imagination and requite Idiot box executives a more visceral sense of how the show might look and feel.

Another way to lift up the pitch to exist fun to read is by writing it in the voice of the principal character. Ane incredible pitch I came across during my research was the show bible for Dirk Gently'due south Holistic Detective Agency. If you're interested, take a read here. Be prepared for a express mirth.

iv. Adhere some talent

There are a bunch of means you could arroyo this part. Some advice out there says information technology's best to leave the show open for a studio to attach talent themselves, others say information technology helps to have a lead actor, director and possibly a producer.

At the very to the lowest degree, y'all'll need a reputable agent to get the idea in front of the likes of Netflix. We used Charlie and Ken'southward current representation to assistance with this, then I only needed an amusement lawyer for contract negotiation. I was lucky.

Finding an agent can be tough of form, only like in the book earth. Unfortunately, however, there'southward no reasonable self-publishing option in TV or moving-picture show, so it's a necessary pace. Simply make sure your pitch and pilot are as sharp equally they can exist, do some inquiry into which agencies might suit your genre (look at shows similar yours and detect out who repped them), and query, query, query. ICM Partners and CAA are two of the large ones if you demand somewhere to starting time.

5. Nail Your Verbal Pitch

You're going to have to nail your verbal pitch both for an amanuensis and for whenever the fourth dimension comes you might observe yourself in a room of TV executives. This should add color to the documents you've already produced, foresee whatsoever questions or issues people might have, and make a skilful case for why your evidence is going to make them money.

Like with annihilation, do makes perfect. Rehearse in the mirror, roleplay with others in your team and really punch it in. Because I'm based in Australia, our screenwriter Ken Kabatoff was doing the pitching in LA. We went over scenarios countless times on Skype and Ken also did the same with Charlie. Information technology meant that when he walked into the offices of Netflix, Hulu and more, he was ready to requite things a red-hot crack at making Hellbound a reality on the screen.

Unfortunately, despite the team'south all-time efforts, Hellbound wasn't picked up by any of the major studios. Afterward months and months of work, the pitch was received incredibly well. All the same, the asking upkeep of over $100M for the first season was just too much. As Ken joked 'we could brand Earthbound for less', just that wasn't a compromise nosotros were willing to make, so permit the project become to rest.

Still, I learned so much during the process, made some great contacts in the industry and had a wonderful time talking story with true professionals. Hopefully, I've been able to impart some of that learning to you and it will help you turn your ain novel into a Idiot box serial.

Happy writing and happy pitching.

Take you considered turning your volume series into a TV or streaming script? Please leave your thoughts below and bring together the conversation.

Tim Hawken is an laurels-winning writer of 4 novels and numerous short stories.

Y'all can sign upward here to go a free copy of the first volume in his Hellbound series. It's a thrill ride through the depths of Hell with Satan as your guide.

Source: https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2019/08/23/how-to-turn-your-novel-into-a-tv-series/

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