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62-407: Ironically, one of his most popular novels, and perhaps his most enduring, was not credited to him for much of its shelf life: In its original printing, he was by-lined as the author of the novelization of Days of Wine and Roses based on the screenplay by his friend J.P. Miller . But the book proved hugely popular and the story had become so iconic that its publisher Bantam Books (and one supposes

124-568: A paragraph in his contract stipulating he remained "the only person who could write books about Rambo". This paid off for him when the film producers changed the ending and decided for a sequel . David Morrell accepted to carry out the novelization and negotiated unprecedented liberties which resulted in a likewise unprecedented success when his book entered The New York Times Best Seller list and stayed there for six weeks. Simon Templar or James Bond are examples of media franchises that have been popular for more than one generation. When

186-613: A sequel titled Halo: Ghosts of Onyx . Raymond Benson novelized the original Metal Gear Solid in 2008 and its sequel Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty , while Project Itoh wrote a Japanese language novelization of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots also in 2008 (with an English adaptation later published in 2012). Itoh was set to write novelizations of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker , but his death in 2009 resulted in these projects being handed to Beatless author Satoshi Hase and

248-441: A stage play ) by screenwriters . A screenplay written for television is also known as a teleplay . Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. A screenplay is a form of narration in which the movements, actions, expressions and dialogue of the characters are described in a certain format. Visual or cinematographic cues may be given, as well as scene descriptions and scene changes. In

310-522: A decade". He worked also as a designer of video games. S. D. Perry wrote a series of novels based on the Resident Evil video games and added tie-ins to the novelizations, covering all the mainline titles in the series up until Resident Evil Zero . Eric Nylund introduced a new concept for a novelization when he delivered a trilogy, consisting of a prequel titled Halo: The Fall of Reach , an actual novelization titled Halo: First Strike and

372-448: A film is released, which means it is usually necessary to base the novelization on a screenplay instead of the completed film. It might take an insider to tell whether a novelization diverges unintentionally from the final film because it is based on an earlier version which included deleted scenes. Thus the novelization occasionally presents material which will later on appear in a director's cut . In some cases, separate novelizations of

434-401: A list of master shots. However, screenwriters soon began to add the shot-by-shot details that characterized continuities of the films of the later silent era. Casablanca (1942), is written in this style, with detailed technical instructions interwoven with dialogue. The first use of the term "screenplay" dates to this era; the term "screen play" (two words) was used as early as 1916 in

496-512: A new writer named Hitori Nojima (a pen name for Kenji Yano) respectively. Kojima would go on to write Metal Gear Solid: Substance (a two-part alternate novelization of the original Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2 ), as well as the novelizations of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Death Stranding (a game which he helped write the script for). In some cases an otherwise standard novel may be based on an unfilmed screenplay. Ian Fleming 's 1961 James Bond novel Thunderball

558-479: A novelization is supposed to multiply the 20,000–25,000 words of a screenplay into at least 60,000 words. Writers usually achieve that by adding description or introspection . Ambitious writers are driven to work on transitions and characters just to accomplish "a more prose-worthy format". Sometimes the "novelizer" invents new scenes in order to give the plot "added dimension", provided they are allowed to do that. Publishers aim to have novelizations in shops before

620-405: A novelization, and so did Isaac Asimov , later in his career. While increasingly also a domain of previously established novelists, tie-in writing still has the disadvantages, from the writers' point of view, of modest pay, tight deadlines and no ownership in the intellectual property created. The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers is an American association that aims to recognize

682-405: A screenplay for the acclaimed 2007 film of the same name . Occasionally a novelization is issued even though the film is never made. Gordon Williams wrote the script and novelization for producer Harry Saltzman 's abandoned film The Micronauts . Screenplay A screenplay , or script , is a written work produced for a film , television show , or video game (as opposed to

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744-513: A screenwriter novelizing his own screenplay. Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker was published under the name of George Lucas but his script had been novelized by the prolific tie-in writer Alan Dean Foster . Acquiring editors looking for a novelizer have different issues. The author may not have all of the information needed; Foster wrote the Alien novelization without knowing what

806-405: A single brad at the top left-hand side of the page, making flicking through the paper easier during script meetings. Screenplays are usually bound with a light card stock cover and back page, often showing the logo of the production company or agency submitting the script, covers are there to protect the script during handling which can reduce the strength of the paper. This is especially important if

868-503: Is "largely unrecognized". Writers Guild of America rules require that screenwriters have right of first refusal to write novelizations of their own films, but they rarely do so because of the lack of prestige and money. Some novels blur the line between a novelization and an original novel that is the basis of a film adaptation . Arthur C. Clarke provided the ideas for Stanley Kubrick 's 2001: A Space Odyssey . Based on his own short stories and his cooperation with Kubrick during

930-403: Is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film , TV series , stage play , comic book , or video game . Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of home video , but continue to find commercial success as part of marketing campaigns for major films. They are often written by accomplished writers based on an early draft of

992-413: Is available as a mobile application and a website. The first screenwriting software was SmartKey , a macro program that sent strings of commands to existing word processing programs, such as WordStar , WordPerfect and Microsoft Word . SmartKey was popular with screenwriters from 1982 to 1987, after which word processing programs had their own macro features. Script coverage is a filmmaking term for

1054-446: Is convenient to read or put in a pocket; this is generally for use by the director or production crew during shooting. Although most writing contracts continue to stipulate physical delivery of three or more copies of a finished script, it is common for scripts to be delivered electronically via email. Electronic copies allow easier copyright registration and also documenting "authorship on a given date". Authors can register works with

1116-415: Is double-spaced, action lines are capitalized, and scene headings, character entrances and exits, and sound effects are capitalized and underlined. Drama series and sitcoms are no longer the only formats that require the skills of a writer. With reality-based programming crossing genres to create various hybrid programs, many of the so-called "reality" programs are in a large part scripted in format. That is,

1178-424: Is the first novelization of a comic book character. Video games are novelized in the same manner as films. While gamers might enjoy playing a certain action scene for hours, the buyers of a novelization might be bored soon if they merely read about such a scene. Consequently, the writer will have to cut down on the action. Novelization writers are often also accomplished original fiction writers, as well as fans of

1240-460: Is usually invented solely by the screenwriter, though spec screenplays can also be based on established works or real people and events. For American TV shows, the format rules for hour-long dramas and single-camera sitcoms are essentially the same as for motion pictures. The main difference is that TV scripts have act breaks. Multi-camera sitcoms use a different, specialized format that derives from stage plays and radio. In this format, dialogue

1302-635: The United States Army Air Forces during World War II. As a navigator in a B-24 he was shot down over Italy on December 11, 1942 and spent time as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III . His first novel, Summer on the Water , was published in 1948. In addition to Von Ryan's Express , Westheimer also wrote a television pilot set in an Italian prisoner of war camp called Campo 44 . Novelization A novelization (or novelisation )

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1364-588: The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) Registry, and even television formats using the FRAPA 's system. Screenplays and teleplays use a set of standardizations, beginning with proper formatting. These rules are in part to serve the practical purpose of making scripts uniformly readable blueprints of movies, and also to serve as a way of distinguishing a professional from an amateur. Motion picture screenplays intended for submission to mainstream studios, whether in

1426-521: The Xenomorph looked like. The contract may be very restrictive; Max Allan Collins had to write the novelization for Road to Perdition only based on the film, without the detail he had created for the graphic novel of the same name that the film is based on. Rewrites of scripts may force last-minute novelization rewrites. The script for the 1966 film Modesty Blaise was rewritten by five different authors. The writer or script doctor responsible for

1488-537: The eponymous comic strip . Falk worked on the novelizations on his own and with collaboration. A dispute over how he would be credited led to the cessation of the series. Peter O'Donnell , who scripted the Modesty Blaise comic strip, later authored novels featuring the character not directly based on the stories presented in the strips. Matt Forbeck became a writer of novels based on video games after he had been "writing tabletop roleplaying game books for over

1550-449: The feature film The Saint was released in 1997 the creator of this character ( Leslie Charteris ) had already been dead for four years. Hence its novelization had to be written by another author. Ian Fleming on the other hand had official successors who wrote contemporary "Post-Fleming" James Bond novels . During his tenure John Gardner was consequently chosen to write the novelization of Licence to Kill in 1989 and also

1612-520: The Moon (1902) and The Great Train Robbery (1903) had scenarios consisting respectively of a list of scene headings or scene headings with a detailed explication of the action in each scene. At this time, scripts had yet to include individual shots or dialogue. These scenario scripts evolved into continuity scripts , which listed a number of shots within each scene, thus providing continuity to streamline

1674-496: The US or elsewhere in the world, are expected to conform to a standard typographical style known widely as the studio format which stipulates how elements of the screenplay such as scene headings, action, transitions, dialogue, character names, shots and parenthetical matter should be presented on the page, as well as font size and line spacing. One reason for this is that, when rendered in studio format, most screenplays will transfer onto

1736-451: The analysis and grading of screenplays, often within the script-development department of a production company. While coverage may remain entirely verbal, it usually takes the form of a written report, guided by a rubric that varies from company to company. The original idea behind coverage was that a producer's assistant could read a script and then give their producer a breakdown of the project and suggest whether they should consider producing

1798-459: The audience of a film will buy its novelization. This makes these relatively inexpensively produced works a commercially attractive proposition in the case of blockbuster film franchises. The increasing number of previously established novelists taking on tie-in works has been credited with these works gaining a "patina of respectability" after they had previously been disregarded in literary circles as derivative and mere merchandise. The writer of

1860-490: The authors, by mutual arrangement) took Westheimer's name off the book to move it into the "literature" category and keep it in print (which they did, for decades). Subsequent printings were branded only J.P. Miller's Days of Wine and Roses without an explicit by-line for the novel. Westheimer, a Rice University graduate, worked as an assistant editor for the Houston Post from 1939 to 1946 except for those years spent with

1922-405: The current draft or work already on another film script. Not every screenwriter is available, willing to work for less money than what can be earned with film scripts and able to deliver the required amount of prose on time. Even if so, there is still the matter of novelizations having a questionable reputation. The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers concedes that by saying their craft

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1984-488: The early silent era , before the turn of the 20th century, "scripts" for films in the United States were usually a synopsis of a film of around one paragraph and sometimes as short as one sentence. Shortly thereafter, as films grew in length and complexity, film scenarios (also called "treatments" or "synopses" ) were written to provide narrative coherence that had previously been improvised. Films such as A Trip to

2046-464: The explicit visual continuity and strict adherence to a budget that continuity scripts afforded, the master-scene script was more readable, which is of importance to an independent producer seeking financing for a project. By the production of Chinatown (1974), this change was complete. Andrew Kenneth Gay argues that this shift has raised the status of directors as auteurs and lowered the profile of screenwriters. However, he also notes that since

2108-460: The film and want to explore its characters further, or to reconnect to the enthusiasm they experienced when watching the film. A film is therefore also a sort of commercial for its novelization; the film's success or failure affects the novelization's sales. Conversely, film novelizations help generate publicity for upcoming films, serving as a link in the film's marketing chain. According to publishing industry estimates, about one or two percent of

2170-458: The film itself is based on an original novel: novelist and screenwriter Christopher Wood wrote a novelization of the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me . Although the 1962 Ian Fleming novel was still available in bookstores, its story had nothing to do with the 1977 film. To avoid confusion, Wood's novelization was titled James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me . This novel is also an example of

2232-407: The film's script and on a tight deadline. Novelizations of films began to be produced in the 1910s and 1920s for silent films such as Les Vampires (1915–16) and London After Midnight (1927). One of the first films with spoken dialogue to be novelized was King Kong (1933). Film novelizations were especially profitable during the 1970s before home video became available, as they were then

2294-617: The filmmaking process. While some productions, notably D. W. Griffith 's The Birth of a Nation (1915), were made without a script, preapproved " continuities " allowed the increasingly powerful studio executives to more accurately budget for film productions. Movie industry revolutionary Thomas H. Ince , a screenwriter himself, invented movie production by introducing an " assembly line " system of filmmaking that utilized far more detailed written materials, clearly dedicated to "separating conception from execution". Film researcher Andrew Kenneth Gay posits that, "The process of scripting for

2356-406: The left to accommodate hole punches ). The major components are action (sometimes called "screen direction") and dialogue . The action is written in the present tense and is limited to what can be heard or seen by the audience, for example descriptions of settings, character movements, or sound effects. The dialogue is the words the characters speak, and is written in a center column. Unique to

2418-497: The novelization of GoldenEye in 1995 . John Gardner found his successor in Raymond Benson who wrote besides several original Bond novels three novelizations including The World Is Not Enough . While comic books such as the series Classics Illustrated have often provided adaptations of novels, novelizations of comics are relatively rare. The Adventures of Superman , written by George Lowther and published in 1942,

2480-630: The only way to re-experience popular movies other than television airing or a rerelease in theaters. The novelizations of Star Wars (1977), Alien (1979) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) sold millions of copies. The first ever video game to be novelised was Shadowkeep , in 1984. Even after the advent of home video, film novelizations remain popular, with the adaptation of Godzilla (2014) being included on The New York Times Best Seller list for mass-market paperbacks. This has been attributed to these novels' appeal to fans: about 50% of novelizations are sold to people who have watched

2542-418: The original novel is generally reissued with a cover based on the film's poster. If a film company also wishes to have a separate novelization published, the company is supposed to approach the author who has "Separated Rights". A writer has these rights if he contributed the source material (or added a great deal of creative input to it) and if he was moreover properly credited. Novelizations also exist where

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2604-480: The original. The novel was released a year before the film and unlike the film it had sequels. Frederick Forsyth 's 1979 novel The Devil's Alternative was based on an unfilmed script he had written. Cormac McCarthy 's 2005 novel No Country for Old Men was adapted from a screenplay the author wrote. This allowed the Coen brothers to stick "almost word for word" faithfully to the book when adapting it back into

2666-512: The overall concept and story. The script format for documentaries and audio-visual presentations which consist largely of voice-over matched to still or moving pictures is different again and uses a two-column format which can be particularly difficult to achieve in standard word processors, at least when it comes to editing or rewriting. Many script-editing software programs include templates for documentary formats. Various screenwriting software packages are available to help screenwriters adhere to

2728-494: The overall skeleton of the show and its episodes are written to dictate the content and direction of the program. The Writers Guild of America has identified this as a legitimate writer's medium, so much so that they have lobbied to impose jurisdiction over writers and producers who "format" reality-based productions. Creating reality show formats involves storytelling structure similar to screenwriting, but much more condensed and boiled down to specific plot points or actions related to

2790-408: The preparation and making of this film adaptation he wrote the film novelization of the same name which is appreciated by fans because the film provides little exposition , and the novelization fills in some blanks. David Morrell wrote the novel First Blood about John Rambo , which led to the film adaptation of the same name . Although Rambo dies at the end of his original story, Morrell had

2852-521: The required format written into the rubric of their writer's contract. The Nicholl Fellowship , a screenwriting competition run under the auspices of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , has a guide to screenplay format. A more detailed reference is The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats . A speculative screenplay or "spec script" is a script written to be sold on the open market with no upfront payment, or promise of payment. The content

2914-452: The same film are written for publication in different countries, and these may be based on different drafts of the screenplay, as was very clearly the case with the American and British novelizations of Capricorn One . Writers select different approaches to enrich a screenplay. Dewey Gram's Gladiator , for example, included historical background information. If a film is based on a novel,

2976-405: The screen at the rate of approximately one page per minute. This rule of thumb is widely contested — a page of dialogue usually occupies less screen time than a page of action, for example, and it depends enormously on the literary style of the writer — and yet it continues to hold sway in modern Hollywood . There is no single standard for studio format. Some studios have definitions of

3038-400: The screen did not so much emerge naturally from other literary forms such as the play script, the novel, or poetry nor to meet the artistic needs of filmmakers but developed primarily to address the manufacturing needs of industrial production." With the advent of sound film , dialogue quickly dominated scripts, with what had been specific instructions for the filmmaker initially regressed to

3100-545: The screenplay (as opposed to a stage play ) is the use of slug lines . A slug line , also called a master scene heading , occurs at the start of each scene and typically contains three pieces of information: whether the scene is set inside or outside (INT. or EXT.; interior or exterior), the specific location, and the time of day. Each slug line begins a new scene. In a " shooting script " the slug lines are numbered consecutively for ease of reference. American screenplays are printed single-sided on three-hole-punched paper using

3162-438: The screenplay is no longer a technical document, screenwriting is more of a literary endeavour. The format is structured so that (as a ballpark estimate ) one page equates to roughly one minute of screen time, though this often bears little resemblance to the runtime of the final production. The standard font is 12 point , 10 pitch Courier typeface . Wide margins of at least one inch are employed (usually larger for

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3224-405: The script is likely to pass through the hands of several people or through the post. Increasingly, reading copies of screenplays (that is, those distributed by producers and agencies in the hope of attracting finance or talent) are distributed printed on both sides of the paper (often professionally bound) to reduce paper waste. Occasionally they are reduced to half-size to make a small book which

3286-449: The scripts for use in the US letter size, especially when their scripts are to be read by American producers since the pages would otherwise be cropped when printed on US paper. Because each country's standard paper size is difficult to obtain in the other country, British writers often send an electronic copy to American producers, or crop the A4 size to US letter. A British script may be bound by

3348-519: The short story adaptations. Alan Dean Foster would later adapt the follow-up animated series into the Star Trek Log series. Mel Gilden wrote novelizations of Beverly Hills, 90210 , merging three episodes into one book. As he explained, this approach required him to look for a joint story arc . In the early 1970s Lee Falk was asked by the Avon publishing house to deliver Phantom novels based on

3410-412: The silent era to refer to the film itself, i.e. a play shown on a screen. With the end of the studio system in the 1950s and 1960s, these continuities were gradually split into a master-scene script , which includes all dialogue but only rudimentary scene descriptions and a shooting script devised by the director after a film is approved for production. While studio era productions required

3472-434: The so-called "final" version is not necessarily the artist who has contributed the original idea or most of the scenes. The patchwork character of a film script might even exacerbate because the film director , a principal actor or a consulting script doctor does rewrites during the shooting. An acquiring editor who intends to hire one of the credited screenwriters has to reckon that the early writers are no longer familiar with

3534-553: The standard American letter size (8.5 in × 11 in; 220 mm × 280 mm). They are then held together with two brass brads in the top and bottom hole. The middle hole is left empty as it would otherwise make it harder to quickly read the script. In the United Kingdom, double-hole-punched A4 paper is normally used, which is slightly taller and narrower (210 mm × 297 mm; 8.3 in × 11.7 in) than US letter size. Some UK writers format

3596-513: The strict formatting conventions. Detailed computer programs are designed specifically to format screenplays, teleplays, and stage plays. Such packages include BPC-Screenplay, Celtx , Fade In , Final Draft , FiveSprockets , Montage , Movie Draft SE, Movie Magic Screenwriter , Movie Outline 3.0, Scrivener , and Zhura . Software is also available as web applications , accessible from any computer, and on mobile devices , such as Fade In Mobile Scripts Pro and Studio Binder, and WriterDuet , which

3658-402: The works they adapt, which helps motivate them to undertake a commission that is generally compensated with a relatively low flat fee. Alan Dean Foster , for example, said that, as a fan, "I got to make my own director's cut. I got to fix the science mistakes, I got to enlarge on the characters, if there was a scene I particularly liked, I got to do more of it, and I had an unlimited budget. So it

3720-409: The writers of adapted and tie-in fiction . It hands out annual awards, the "Scribes", in categories including "best adapted novel". Doctor Who had stories novelised in particular from the era of its original series published by Target Books. Episodes of Star Trek were adapted into short stories by the noted science fiction writer James Blish . Each volume of the stories included a number of

3782-402: Was based on a script he had co-written; in this case his collaborators subsequently sued for plagiarism. Peter O'Donnell's novel Modesty Blaise was a novelization of a refused film script. In this case the creator of the main character had written the script alone, but later on other authors had changed O'Donnell's original script over and over, until merely one single sentence remained from

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3844-680: Was fun". Writing skill is particularly needed for challenging situations common to writing novelizations of popular media, such as lack of access to information about the film, last-minute script changes and very quick turnaround times. Collins had to write the novelization of In the Line of Fire in nine days. Although novelizations tend to have a low prestige, and are often viewed as "hackwork", several critically acclaimed literary authors have written novelizations, including Arthur Calder-Marshall , William Kotzwinkle and Richard Elman . Best-selling author Ken Follett , early in his career, also wrote

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