Adaptation Is Translation, Not Transcription
(Adaptions part 1 of 4) Why Great Screen Adaptations Don’t Copy, They Transform
Before I get started…
Since I’m currently adapting a project for a client, it felt like the perfect time to open up the process and share what I’m learning, refining, and wrestling with. Adaptation is its own unique craft, and while I’m deep in the trenches right now, I thought it would be fun — and hopefully useful — to run a 4-part series on how to approach adaptations the right way. From finding the cinematic spine to cutting ruthlessly, this series will break down everything I’ve learned (and everything I’m still learning) about turning someone else’s story into a film-ready script.
There’s a myth a lot of newer screenwriters fall into when adapting a book, a short story, or even an article:
“If I just copy/rewrite the scenes from the book, I’ll end up with a great screenplay.”
Nope.
Not even close.
Adaptation isn’t transcription. It’s translation.
You’re not photocopying a story — you’re converting it into a new medium with different rules, different strengths, and different demands.
Let’s talk about what that really means.
🎬 Books Talk. Movies Show.
The biggest trap in adaptation is forgetting what film actually is.
Books can live inside a character’s head.
Movies can’t.
Books can pause time for a page-long description.
Movies get slower when they do that.
Books can break structure on purpose.
Movies break structure at their own peril.
An adaptation isn’t about keeping everything — it’s about keeping what works on screen.
Example: The Bourne Identity
The novel is political, dense, and heavy on internal monologue.
The film strips 70% of the plot, keeps the emotional spine (“Who am I?”), and builds a visual, kinetic experience around it.
That’s translation.
🧠 The Adaptor’s Job: Identify the Core
You can’t adapt a whole book.
You can only adapt:
The main relationship
The primary conflict
The central emotional engine
And the theme
Everything else?
Optional. Negotiable. Often expendable.
Example: Jaws
The book has affairs, business corruption, fishing politics.
The movie cuts everything that isn’t “shark vs. men vs. fear.”
And it works because it’s focused — ruthlessly.
🎹 Translation = Finding the Cinematic Equivalents
Think like a composer adapting a song to another instrument.
What’s the equivalent of a character’s thought in a movie?
A close-up.
A hesitation.
A choice.
A lie.
A silence.
A visual symbol.
Dialogue is the last resort — not the first.
Example: No Country for Old Men
Cormac McCarthy’s prose is rich, philosophical, internal.
The Coen brothers translate theme into visual morality:
A coin toss
A locked door
A silent pursuit
A missing showdown
They didn’t adapt the words — they adapted the feeling.
⚡ You’re Translating Emotion, Not Chapters
If you try to adapt a book beat by beat, you’re dead.
What you’re adapting is the emotional journey.
Ask:
What is the moment the protagonist breaks?
What is the relationship the story hinges on?
What is the turn that shifts the entire narrative?
What must the audience feel?
That’s your adaptation.
Not the table of contents.
Example: Gone Girl
The book’s unreliable narration is internal.
The film translates that to:
Competing POVs
Shifting tone
Contradictory diary entries
Same feeling.
Different tools.
✂️ The Courage to Cut (And Cut Deep)
This is the hardest part of adaptation.
You will cut things you love.
You will cut things fans love.
You will cut things the author probably loved.
But you’re not adapting a book to read.
You’re adapting it to move.
To breathe.
To play on screen.
Example: The Shining
King hated what Kubrick cut.
Kubrick didn’t care.
He adapted a feeling of dread, not a literal sequence of events.
And the film became immortal.
🎭 The Adaptation Mindset
Before you write a single page, shift your thinking:
You are not preserving.
You are reinventing.
You are honoring the core.
You are translating its heart.
The audience should feel like they just watched the spirit of the source — even if half the events changed.
That’s the craft.
Final Thought
Adapting a story is like telling someone your favorite book out loud.
You don’t quote every line.
You don’t describe every chapter.
You hit the parts that matter — the ones that made you care.
Your job is not to repeat the book.
Your job is to reawaken it in a new language.