EVENTS


The Bookseller Children’s Conference Book to screen adaptations


Passing the screen test: four speakers reveal what makes a hit TV adaptation


A rise in the number and output of streaming platforms such as Amazon Video and Netflix has opened up new and profitable revenue streams for writers—but how can publishers help them grasp them?


Heloise Wood @saltounite


01 Has the book to screen world changed in the past year?


Tobi Coventry I would say that it has definitely become more competitive, very much so in the five years I have been scouting. There are more scouts than before, and I think more deals being done. Producers are very keen to create projects and build relationships with key writers and directors, especially for TV and streaming, and books are a fantastic way of doing this. There is also something interesting happening with the tpe of books optioned and how they translate such as [Liane Moriart’s] Big Little Lies—a very commercial book matched with quite an arthouse director to create some- thing accessible and hard-hiting. Ingrid Selberg A year really is only a blink of an eye in this process, so I can’t really ascribe any recent developments to this past year only. The most significant recent development


06 7th September 2018


is the rise of Netflix and Amazon in the kids’/YA space, with both airing teen rom-coms [Beth Reekles’] The Kissing Booth and [Jenny Han’s] To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and a number of series based on US picture books, such as Llama Llama [by Anna Dewdney]. Films largely continue to be based on big franchises— “Incredibles 2”, “Hotel Transylvania 3”, “Paddington”. Emily Hayward-Whitlock


For a while now, there’s been increasing competition for titles. This year has been no different. I had several titles in auctions contested by five or more compa- nies, but lots of titles end up with two or three competing for them. In a similar vein, more and more [screen businesses] are hiring dedicated scouts, either external or in-house, to make sure they’re at the front of the queue for excit- ing material. Camilla Deakin There have been many very successful


BEEN A COMMERCIAL AND CRITICAL HIT FOR BOTH PRODUCER AND AUTHOR


BIG LITTLE LIES HAS


Tobi Coventry


Camilla Deakin


Emily Hayward- Whitlock


book-to-screen adaptations over the past few years, and the number is continuing to grow. New screening platforms, differ- ent formats and the resultant ever-expanding audience make this a really exciting time to be bringing books to the screen. Complex narratives are given room to breathe as TV series, which can be consumed as “box- sets” in the same uninterrupted way as films are and simple stories can be expanded into three-dimensional “story worlds” in apps and on virtual realit platforms. Streaming platforms have also created a continuous appetite for new content. Books that already have a proven audi- ence are a logical place to turn to.


02 How could publishers work better with the TV and film


Ingrid Selberg


industries? Coventry Something interesting is happening: some editors are thinking like producers—looking


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