Some books seem impossible to bring to the screen. Whether it’s a story that transcends current technology or a sweeping memoir filled with inner thoughts, novels present unique challenges that often make some books feel uncomfortable for screenwriters.
But challenges can inspire some of the most creative solutions.
Nora Fingscheidt, writer and director of the Sundance hit transcendThis was a unique challenge faced in adapting Amy Liptrot’s Wainwright Award- and PEN/Ackerley Award-winning memoir.
Fingscheidt sat down with ScreenCraft to discuss how she brought this complex story to life, translating emotional beats into action, and uncovered the biggest challenges in translating the script into the final cut.
Adapt to the uncomfortable
How do you adapt a book that is mostly interior thoughts and minimal action? This is a tough nut to crack even for experienced writers.
“For the first half, I thought, OK, no movie. It was inappropriate because, you know, [Liptrot] This book started out as an internet blog and feels like you’re reading someone’s diary. It’s so intrinsic. It’s like a memory-level thought process, jumping four lines in a sentence,” Fingscheidt told ScreenCraft.
“But the more I learned about the location and her character and all of Saoirse’s [Ronan] I thought to myself, okay, maybe there is an adaptation. But you know, it needed to be pretty radical because it needed to maintain the nerdy side of her character. We have to accept the fact that this was an isolated woman who spent two winters alone in a cabin on a remote island,” she added.
After spending nearly three months reading the book, annotating each section and breaking down the beats, Finscheit found a way to adapt to the unfit. Her skill is to lean into the extremes of the character and let those extremes come across visually and in all of Lorna’s movements.
“There’s a line in the book that says, ‘The edge is my home. The edge is where I come from. … How she was shaped by these extremes, you know?’ Finscheidt pointed out. “That’s definitely something important. , there’s a certain level of extremeness in whatever she does, like she’s not doing it 50 percent of the way, she’s going to give it her all… I think that’s part of Amy’s character and that’s what we really wanted in the visual. Something to translate.
Read more: How to create memorable and resonant characters
Balance story with creative vision
With a filmable script, Fingscheidt was ready to share it with her creative team, which included conversations with Liptrot.
“back [being with the book]it is important to me that [the author] Be involved in every creative decision we had to make because of course this is just a feature film,” Fingscheidt said. “It will never be as complex as the book, and the book will never be as complex as real life. So you have to simplify and dramatize to find the essence of things. But that essence still has to be true to the book and to real life.
Adapting any novel is a daunting task that requires a screenwriter to work with the author to fine-tune the intent of the story, but adapting a memoir is a daunting task. Everyone has to live with the movie forever, and it’s part of the screenwriter’s responsibility to make sure the story is fair to the people involved.
By opening up the process to those involved, you can create a creative space that helps bring important stories to life in a way that is honest and true to the author’s intent.
Understanding this creates a thread throughout the production that grounds the narrative and everyone’s creative decisions, even if the script is dated.
“Again, the book was somewhat of a difficult beast to adapt to, and we knew that throughout. Like how do you make this into a feature film? At some point, we got a script that we could run with ‘s script. But when we shot it and edited it in script order, it just didn’t work,” Fingscheidt said. “We had to lose more stories during the editing process because we found that all of this stuff that read so wonderfully on the page was cannibalizing each other.”
“At some point, you think, ‘Oh, am I supposed to be concerned about my boyfriend? Or the guy in rehab, or the dad. Or, wait, is it about the best friend? So, we have to Reduce, reduce, reduce, and combine all those bits going back and forth into longer bits,” Fingscheidt added.
This process is why it’s important to have a team you trust and believe in you and the story.
“The Escape” (2024)
The power of trust when shooting
As more writers step behind the camera to bring their stories to life, it’s critical that the team you assemble shares the same vision. As Fingscheidt’s career has evolved, one thing has remained constant in each of her projects: finding a crew she trusts.
“Choose the right people. Choose people you trust who share the vision and make sure you’re making the film for the same reasons,” Figschedit said. “Things can get really complicated when you’re working on a team and you suddenly realize, ‘Oh, there are actually two different journeys going on in terms of the expected outcome.'”
Whether you’re a novice screenwriter looking to showcase your work, or a professional writer stepping onto the camera for the first time, Fingscheidt stresses that the first story you bring to the table must be the one you need to tell, no matter the budget.
“My advice to first-time filmmakers is to really, really, really make a movie that you think needs to tell a story. There’s a real danger in compromising too much on your first movie,” she said.
“The Escape” (2024)
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If there’s a story you think deserves the big screen, don’t let a lack of knowledge of how to adapt it or a lack of budget stop you from making the film. Everyone has the ability to adapt, but you have to find the threads that keep the vision consistent at every stage of production.
Read more: How We’re the Lucky Ones showrunner Erica Lipez masterfully adapted a complex narrative for TV
