Making movies from other material
If anyone ever wants to make movies of my novels, I would want them to make my novel into film, not their idea of my novel. I would want them to follow the story in the book rigorously, not remove or add material.
Filmmakers have a horrible tendency to do their version of a given story, usually ruining it to various degrees, and often completely. They demonstrate that they haven’t understood it at all, a fact that should embarrass them to no end.
But some even brag about it, about not giving a damn about being faithful to the novel. They remove material, add material, remove characters, add characters without rhyme or reason, often even contradicting completely the story in the novel.
There are countless examples of this. Basic respect is a keyword here, and should be the guiding star of anyone «translating» words to moving images. It should be obvious.
Authors have, with good reason been weary of filmmakers. Some have even said categorically no to having their stories filmed during their lifetime, and left it to their heirs to decide (and suffer).
I share the skepticism, but not the rejection. I would actually love to have my novels filmed, but not at any cost. I would insist on having the final say, a rock-solid contract where I could and would stop anything putting me off, where my decision would supersede that of the director, the producer or anyone connected to the movie.
The various scenes in my stories are very much interconnected. One seemingly unimportant detail on one page or in one book may gain a crucial meaning elsewhere in a series. Pull it out, and the meaning is changed or vanishes altogether. The story, paragraph becomes meaningless. Quite a few books and series are like that. All my books are. Every single one. It is called complex storytelling, and no one should be allowed to spoil that.
If filmmakers don’t want to make a faithful reproduction of my books… they shouldn’t make any at all. It is and should be that easy.