Adaptation

Every year, a certain amount of mainstream films enter our attention as we browse the media market. It's common knowledge- especially these days- that a great deal of the stories being told are stories that have already come about in one way or another. These films have a tendancy to fall on an extreme scale of either fantastically good, blockbuster movies, or one of the "I can't believe I just sat through that" disasters, which I like to call "The Spoof Movie Tragedies." But in actuality, nearly ALL of the films that reach the grand, mainstream scale are adaptations from other sources.

Sitting in a meeting being held by Scott Aversano, (producer of the new film, Killers, as well as executive producer of School of Rock and Team America) at my university a few months ago, it was jaw-dropping for me, as a screenwriter, to discover that Hollywood's birth of original screenplay specs being accepted has dropped at an alarming rate. Previously paying for over a hundred original screenplays each year between the companies, that number has dropped dramatically to a stunning figure of three. Three original screenplays are being accepted by mainstream Hollywood each year. What this means for writers is that they are up against the Yale of original specs when it comes to putting their ideas out there. Not only are we still in heated competition with one another, but now we shiver in the corner against the rising, formidable power of screen adaptations. This means that for the voice of originality to be heard, our original scripts have to be exactly what the buyers believe the masses want to see, commercially viable, with likeable protagonists, and void of risk. Point: An original screenplay in the upcoming years is going to be nearly impossible to sell.

Adaptations can be great films, filled with artistic technique and versitality. The Changeling, starring Angelina Jolie (2009) is a beautiful nonfiction adaptation, based on the true story of a woman whose son was taken away from her, and another was returned... but not the son she gave birth to. The costumes, lighting, direction, editing, story, and acting in the film is brilliant. It's a 4.8/5 stars film, no question (unless the genre is really not your cup of tea). But the concept was not an original idea- in the slightest. From Hell (2001) starring Johnny Depp, is an interpretation of the things may have gone down in the Jack the Ripper scandals of 19th ce. Whitechapel, London. In its almost noir-style, it completely captures the dankness of the city, the desperation of the civilials (and namely, the prostitutes) the steadiness of the killer, and fills the story with subplots, subplots, subplots. It has an all-star cast, is filled with multiple exciting, sometimes horrific- but always true- aspects of 19th ce. London, and never leaves you bored. This is admittedly my favorite film. It is also in no way an original idea. Even the theory of what may have happened during this scandal had already been proposed years before the film went underway. All of the notions had already been challenged (and in fact, disproven) by historians and criminologists. But even knowing that the story is impossible as I do, I cannot stop watching the movie in all of its power and success.

I don't pretend to say that adaptations are a bad thing, or that I don't enjoy them. Clearly, I find something moving and meaningful about them, and I do not wish for them to become a thing of the past. But all of that aside, it must take a backstep. Writing an original idea is becoming more and more like chasing a dream. To keep the market fresh, to keep MINDS fresh, inspirational, and thinking, new ideas need to come forward. And the media needs to LET them. Mass media's only goal is to make money. Therefore, as consumers, we have a responsibility to consume what we want to see. Day in and day out, I hear people ragging on the ridiculous spoof movies that come out... but they've seen them. They paid money to see them, through Netflix, On Demand, or damn it even in the Theatres. However, these SAME people may go home and watch a wonderful original screenplay like Inception (2010) for free, illegally, on a website. When you do things like this, this inables the market from making money one that movie you just watched. This tells them that you didn't like it. They won't make more- especially not when it's riskier to make a new movie than to retell a successful story. And that risk is the same reason you pay to see Spiderman but not Inception. You don't want to be told a new story you might not like, with SO much other media you have to choose from, when you could just see something you already know you like (obviously not everyone is like this, so don't bash me about how often you watch original Indie movies). Pay to see an original movie if it looks good. You need to!! If you don't, all you'll be able to do for the next 10, 20, 30 years is see a movie you've essentially already seen.

When you live in a mass media culture, the power is in your hands. So take it so we may see some original ideas. Even if they SUCK... wouldn't it be a refreshing change?