Frankfurt Fair | How to Adapt a Novel into a Movie Without Betraying the Original

“And is there a ‘movie’ of this book? & rdquor ;. It is a phrase that all literature teachers will have heard at some point, since students tend to be more predisposed, traditionally, to the audiovisual format than to the narrative one. But the truth is that coexistence between one industry and another is increasingly fruitful. The debate is also present these days at the Frankfurt Fair, where not only deals are being closed to sell literary rights in other countries, but also audiovisual ones.

Within the ‘Overflowing Creativity’ of the pavilion that Spain has displayed as guest of honor at this year’s edition of the fair, one of the busiest tables of the day was the one that sought to reflect on that fertile relationship. As protagonists, the author, screenwriter and filmmaker Carlo Padial; Jaume Ripoll, founder of Filmin (the platform’s first series is ‘Doctor Portuondo’, based on Padial’s book), and the versatile writer Elia Barcelovery shower in the adaptations.

“For me it is always clear that the work is going to be from the director and his team, but if they falsify what I wanted to say, I don’t play. I do want to control the script or, at least, have seen it. It is a matter of respect between creators & rdquor ;, began by saying Barceló. Ripoll explained that “it is not that Filmin goes to a popular author, it is that all the platforms do, because it assures you recognition: they are going to talk about me because they already know what it is about, the writer is known and the book has sold. The key is to take risks. Algorithm-based platforms end up always doing the same series”.

The case of ‘Doctor Portuondo’

That is why, according to Ripoll, the series they do are the ones that “make you uncomfortable or challenge you.” Like ‘Doctor Portuondo’. Padial, which is defined as a person “deeply neurotic”, he received the call with Filmin’s proposal in the bathroom, and he didn’t think about it. “It is the purest experience and with the most freedom that I have had in my life & rdquor;. In this regard, Ripoll considers that “it makes no sense to entrust the adaptation of the book to the author and tell him how to do it. It is a contradiction that many platforms incur.”

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One of the keys is how a story with a literary link is shot. There are paradigmatic examples of a job well done, such as the movie based on ‘The Holy Innocents’ or the series based on ‘Purgatory’. But they are few, exceptional cases. That is why Padial tried, during the filming of ‘Doctor Portuondo’, that at all times they were on a literary stage. It gave power to the word, which is what it’s all about. The problem, in Ripoll’s opinion, is “wanting to take it page by page, plan by plan. Abundance is changing the way we see. The adaptations that they demand of you have a difficult place today”.

Consumption habits

For Barceló there is also another question, and that is that “It seems that most of the series are the same, it seems that this world is full of serial killers… That we could start doing something else, I say & rdquor ;. The problem is that, as consumption habits have changed so much, it is very difficult to get a film off the ground. In fact, Padial acknowledges that In all work meetings now the same question comes up: “What if we turned it into a series? & rdquor;. To which is added what is perhaps the most pernicious effect, at least from a creative point of view: more and more authors write with adaptation in mind. “I’m up to my nose Barceló complains. It gives the feeling that if a movie or a series is not made, it is that you have failed”. And Padial finishes off, agreeing with the analysis: “As authors, sometimes we are impressionable with the strength of the audiovisual. We should focus on making a good book.”