Your work's been adapted. What's likely to be glossed over/missing?

@ Major Tom, there may be a good reason for that.

See, directors are interpretive, not creative. They interpret the screenplay and make it happen. That's thae way it's supposed to work. except, if you have directors with egos the size of a planet, they start exhibiting the lunacy that they are creative, and thus have a valid say in contributions to the story. they don't, but short of getting a new director, how do you convince them of that. so they start making changes, and ...well, you know the rest of the story.

so making changes is the job of the producer, and the writer is supposed to work with them on that. the director is supposed to do as they're damn told. but being paid millions doesn't go too well with that

And the parts where the action stops for five minutes so I can use one of the characters as a mouthpiece to rant about the flaws in the university system would definitely be cut.

I hope that was Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking comedy cuz people have a tendency to not like Writer on Board and Author Filibuster.

In which case knowing how Hollywood is, would actually take your section and expand it. It wouldn't be left on the cutting room floor.

Yeah, that was supposed to be a joke. (A very self-deprecating joke though... I do like to make fun of that sort of thing, but I try not to be overly Anvilicious about it.)

edited 11th Mar '13 1:42:17 AM by DoctorSerenitySquid

^ Are you subtle about it? To the point that maybe a random Wild Mass Guessing that's dismissed by popular thought is the real answer?

I'd like to think so. Some people notice it and others don't, so it might be a Viewers Are Geniuses sort of thing.

One of my villains gains access to firearms later in the story. They would obviously cut that out, as this particular villain is only twelve.

I'd like to think that any changes would be adaptation distillation; after all, my work can hardly get any worse.

Stuck, unless it was done in such a genius way that they'd be kept intact (a la Scott Pilgrim Vs The World), would most likely lose its insane amount of shout outs put in the dialogue and writing and/or the part just before the finale in which Tre goes to Allison's house and sulks about his "death" for a week.

I'm going to make damn sure they don't erase or diminish the plot with Skye 's history with Dex as that would destroy a lot of Skye's characterization. Same with Timmy and his Empathy.

All the filler stories would get removed (exept maybe the ones that offer soem insight onto the characters), and the plot streamlined to be more coherrent.

If Hollywood ever gets their fingers on my work (for whatever bizarre reason), I won't even let them do an adaptation. A tie-in, maybe, but it has to tie in perfectly. Although I might change my mind if the producer is someone I admire. All my work is/will be metafictional, so an adaptation would basically be a different work fundamentally anyways.

Not that I have to worry about that at the moment.

Demeka is no longer asexual, but in return gets to be an Adaptational Badass Action Hero to ward off "not a strong female character" complaints (despite her strength supposed to be coming from within). Job is not biracial anymore because biracial actors are too hard to find. Alice is turned into an actual child, rather than a young adult with brain damage (despite that being a huge motivation for her). Akhos loses the more, ahem, morbid scenes, and just ends up being someone for Job and Demeka to run away from.

Basically a Bowdlerization that destroys major character motivations and scary but important scenes in an attempt to be a cool action movie with alternate universes rather than a deconstruction of nihilism and an exploration of our notions on reality and how we perceive it. Complex doesn't sell.

edited 19th Mar '16 3:42:35 PM by TooManyIdeas

Well, considering that my story-in-progress is meant to be a CG Web Animation, it would probably be adapted into an animated series instead of a movie, preferably for CN or Toonami. Although the High Concept would not be changed that much (high-school students fight monsters utilizing magitek weapons and armor used by ancient heroes whilst dealing with "normal" high schooler problems), there are still some things that may be changed by the adaption.

• The scene of entire cast getting smashed during a rave] may be censored by making the cast Drunk on Milk. This arguably would make the scene funnier.
• The Hate Sink gets more likable, to the point of becoming a Draco in Leather Pants.
• The rampant Les Yay between one of the protagonists and her bodyguard would get toned down a bit, but not enough to allay all the Yuri Fans. They still end up together.
• The other main protagonist would probably start off being even more of a dork than the source material.
• Half of the philosophical faux-proselytizing would be cut out, even though it's played for laughs in the first place.
• All the episode titles would be changed for fear of lawsuits, since they all refer to song titles.

In all fairness, that doesn't seem so bad.

edited 19th Mar '16 4:20:45 PM by handlere

• They either hire a cis female to play Charlie, or make him cisgender
• They either turn Lauren Wallis into the Missing Mom or plain kill her off, rather than mentioning she's an abusive, terrible person. Because men can't be victims of domestic violence, apparently.
• They make Abby Wallis less of an Anti-Hero; because why would Declan love his own daughter unconditionally?
• They probably make Heron's drinking problem less serious.
• If they're really shitty, they might not even set it in Melbourne.

I'm really angry at this hypothetical Executive Meddling.

Most likely changes:

-Most of the scenes of the characters talking before sleeping would probably get condensed into one or two.

-They'll probably enter the Garden of Evil immediately after leaving town. Said Garden of Evil has a chance of becoming a more familiar Mordor.

-Setting information gets condensed, which is justified given length restrictions.

-Nicolette has less creepy Body Horror growths on her.

Worst case scenario for the lulz:

-Love triangle.

-Whitewashing.

-Most Conglomerate agents become mooks that die by the bucketload instead of opponents that can threaten the main characters even when outnumbered.

-Gratituous sex scene.

Let's see...

Space Opera-verse:

Garkin's social awkwardness and verbal tics are toned down to make him a more generic action hero, and Rolph becomes a pure Comic Relief character.

More action scenes are added, but the consequences of the violence are removed to get a lower rating. The railguns might even be replaced by generic sci-fi "blasters".

Worst case scenario is that a human point of view character is somehow shoehorned into the plot.

Fantasy-verse:

Gwenafer's facial scars are toned down, but the story treats them as more of a problem than the source material, except when it doesn't. She's also a bit more pale than I had in mind.

Bjarn becomes Camp Gay, and Moreena's creepiness is toned down, while her Fanservice aspects are exaggerated.

The Sufficiently Analyzed Magic is turned into a Deus ex Machina.

OK, so off the top of my head we've got:

Most of the anti-MegaCorp stuff will be removed, making it a straight action/sci-fi type deal. Also the references to the massive terrorist attack in 2000 will probably be toned down, it'll probably be set in America or something rather than Germany, and if it is set in Germany it'll probably be somewhere like Berlin (despite it having been destroyed in aforementioned massive terrorist attack) or Hamburg rather than the non-existent Frankfurt-am-Rhein.

As far as characters and things go, most of Krit and Sergei's backstories will probably be cut, Mars will probably lose her backstory altogether, and Sergei will probably switch from being Krit's love interest to Mars's, thus changing two sexualities for the price of one. Krit probably becomes Camp Gay.

Also probably less Gratuitous German.

Although the sheer scope of my main project means that any number of important things could be cut or botched, I think I would worry most about tact.

Let me explain.

Thematically, there is a lot going on in my work with emotional extremes, with violence and sexuality and the various queasy grey areas in which they overlap being particularly prominent. With the first two, yes, censorship is always going to be at the front of people's minds, but very little is particularly graphic and a lot more is implied than shown to begin with. The point is not to titillate, but to push the story forward. If someone wanted to make things more explicit, I'd have to talk with them about that; if they wanted to excise the blatantly queer stuff... well, I'd be baffled more than offended. But it's that third area that's worrisome.

Although it is mostly in subtext, there are two characters of some significance whose adult lives are, to some degree, defined by sexual violence in their youth. Trying to convey this with the level of care and subtlety it deserves is difficult enough; that both are antagonistic figures of very different sorts makes the balancing act even more difficult. Add to this the further remove of adaptation, and getting it right becomes extremely hard. Too broad, whether through tasteless excess or melodrama, and it becomes offensive; downplay it too much, or remove it entirely, and the characters actively make less sense.

This also plays into some of the consciously uncomfortable undercurrents of certain scenes, whether in the form of violence taking on a sexual tint or the reverse. I do a lot with parallel scenes, where an event mirrors another in staging and progression to highlight a particular theme, often with very different results, and sometimes these scenes cross wires in uneasy ways. Making sure that this doesn't devolve into exploitation is very important to me: If someone is going to get up in arms about something I've written, I'd rather it be for something I actually meant to do.

On a less dire note, the messianic nature of the main antagonist and the esoteric nods to heretical religious doctrine throughout are bound to go over a lot of people's heads and offend quite a few in that category (and some outside of it). These elements are fairly essential to the story as a whole, so trying to shave the edges off of them would probably screw things up a good deal.

Among the probably necessary: Anything involving traditional Yoth women's fashion is modified. The genderless Song remnants might need genders for translation purposes — already assigned and mentioned in-universe, since they have to deal with speakers of languages with strong grammatical gender already. Something clever will also have to be done about conversations that the narrator overhears but cannot understand because they're in English, and that it's necessary the audience not understand; in writing, it's as simple as not transcribing it, but a different medium would complicate things.

Risks? The protagonist's lesbian adoptive mothers have two possible, likely mutually exclusive worries. There's an off-chance their relationship will get implied rather than made explicit, but from the opposite end, they might also lose their distinctly old-fashioned negative reactions to Ethical Sluts, particularly one of the other main characters, a conflict that ends with them glumly agreeing to disagree without any neat, satisfying resolution offered. Which leads into what I fear most; the complex internal conflict between rural and urban Uelane revolutionaries getting either lost in the shuffle, or getting simplified into one side being right, and the other just having to follow quietly. (Hell, I'm worried I'll do that!) Plus the more simple matters: the male protagonist's bisexuality could quite well get implied or downplayed. while a female courtesan's remains intact. Adaptational Attractiveness for a lot of the characters, including those who are attractive in non-conventional ways.

edited 20th Mar '16 5:45:18 PM by KillerClowns

I'm not sure. Mega Corps are pretty Acceptable Targets in movies. In fact, I'd argue that a positive portrayal of a Mega Corp would actually be very subversive. Unless perhaps it's a super-hero story. In fact, I wonder if they'd villainous the morally neutral Mega-Corp in my setting (it helps that they're basically Punch Clock Heroes, though)

As for my work (an RPG game): I'd prefer it to be turned into a TV show (perhaps an Anime-Esque show). If they did so, I bet they'd probably make it more kid-friendly. I actually don't have a problem with this as I don't think my story would lose anything just by being more kid-friendly. I'm slightly curious if they'd want to change how the guns in it work. They're already Family-Friendly Firearms. They'd have to tone down how disturbing the monsters are, most likely.

The story is about benevolent Machine Worshippers (it's a Crystal Dragon Jesus religion) who fight Dirty Communists armed with necromancy (they're never stated as such, but they throw around Communist-sounding terms like "Counterrevolutionary" and their ideology is clearly concerned with making a classless society). I'm also curious what an adapter would do with that, if anything. They might tone down the vaguely conservative themes involved.

The setting's Robot Girl (the protagonist's romantic interest) might be altered to look more human-like.

edited 21st Mar '16 12:02:15 AM by Protagonist506

Id image that if Hollywood got it's grubby hands on my story I expect that they would add a bunch of needless pop-culture references and a stupid love story. As for what they would take out:

• Cross-racial characters.

• The more exotic alien species would be changed to Rubber-Forehead Aliens which do not exist at all in my story.

• Refences to atheism

• The female lead (and co-protagonist) would be sex-ified. E.G. Played by an actress with oversized boobs and who never fully closes her mouth.

• The reorganization of Earth's governments would be cut out to avoid "political insensitivness".

To name a few off the top of my head.

Come to think of it, you're right about the whole MegaCorp thing. They'd probably just tone down quite how mega said corp is (probably have it controlling the government instead of quite literally being the government).

My trans-temporal portal-fantasy survival story...

I'm pretty certain that if I didn't a) do the adaptation myself and b) retain full creative control:

The two New Zealand characters will be played by Brits or Aussies or, worst case scenaro, Americans trying to talk with a British accent - because apparently they're all "close enough".

Half the characters will be "Race-lifted" from Brits and Kiwis to Americans because who the hell wants to watch a movie without an American lead actor?

The two women will be relegated to love-interest duty to provide UST and create friction between the men vying for their attention and ninety percent of the plot will be given over to turning it into a Romance story.

The ex-Wehrmacht unwilling conscript will be changed into a Party-Faithful Nazi who will start out as the designated villain until he eventually learns the error of his ways (and then promptly will die).

A cute kid added - after found cold and frightened in the wilderness they will turn out to be witty and plucky (if rather precocious and prone to being smarter than the adults) and cause no end of side adventures with the peril they get themselves into.

They'll also find a dog that follows them and saves their lives on numerous occasions.

All of the firearms will emit random noises and never need reloading - not even the muzzle-loader (which will inexplicably make noises like the racking of a shotgun or the bolt of a submachinegun or both).

All references to "magazines" will be replaced with "clips" and the firearms-savvy person will get all the specifications wrong and demonstrate extremely poor trigger discipline.

The bloke from the 1700s will be changed from a Tobacco Merchant to a Pirate because importing tobacco is EEEVIL but murdering and stealing is cool so long as you look good in a tricorn and frock coat and have an awesome black flag.

Aliens will show up at some stage.

It'll all turn out to be a dream.

Or was it?

The End?

Either that or they'll just scrap the entire story arc and outright turn it into a RomCom between a group of wacky room-mates but keep the character names and title...

edited 21st Mar '16 3:48:41 AM by Wolf1066

Let's see - my fantasy work adapted into a film. So, first off, the Wild Card would be played by me (He has a... complex diagnosis I don't want to straddle another actor with) and the Awesome Hang Glider Lizards would Not, under any condition, be turned into wyverns. These things are, of course, in the contract, along with several other things. With that out of the way, I'll guess what'll happen.

(Note - my characters don't really have a hero, but five man band terms still work).

The Big Good might lose her Snark Knight behavior, as well as her general extreme cynicism. That's about it, besides being given standard female character treatment.

The Lancer will probably be made less undead, or at least less scarred. His use of archaic fantasy terms will hopefully stay (he's one of few who does this, because he's Really 700 Years Old). He'll probably come out looking a lot less evil. Also, his celibacy will be removed and the friendship he expresses for the Big Guy will turn into a romance arc. His Sociopathic Heroism will be gone, as will the Token Evil Teammate thing. His Knight Templar tendencies will be reduced to just Combat Pragmatism. He'll probably be the most butchered.

The Big Guy will be changed a lot. For one thing, she'll be skinny and given numerous unneeded Fanservice moments. As discussed, she'll be given a romance with The Lancer because stories need love arcs... Oh wait. No they don't. It's possible she'll be made into the most Badass member of the team, because feminism. Her characterization will be reduced to a standard movie Action Girl, just dressed like a paladin.

The Smart Guy will probably be turned into a standard roguish team member, or a standard elf, even though he's not entirely either. His origin as a drifter will be glossed over, because he's not the main protagonist. I expect his red hair to be turned blonde (again, elf) and him to become an archer. He might be Composite Character'd with The Heart, taking the Black Comedy thing from the poor human.

The Heart will become straight and possibly in a committed relationship, rather than Bi and flirtatious. Likewise, his Badass tendencies will either be exaggerated or he'll be turned into a ButtMonkey. His signature midnight purple (Think Batman Arkham Origins Joker) coat will probably become black, and his dark but recognizably purple tricorner might be changed as well. His grim sense of humor will probably be played down.

Despite me playing him, The Wild Card will probably lose a lot of his Jerkass Woobie qualities in favour of his Narcissist and Attention Whore traits, as his sublot will probably be cut down to only the plot necessary appearances. He's essentially a deconstruction of The Mad Hatter and of the Cloudcuckoolander. He won't become a worse person, and make no mistake, he was already bad. But he'll probably just be unsympathetic bad in a movie.

Lastly, the Big Bad will probably be destroyed. He'll go from a Cold Ham fond of Awesomeness by Sufficiently Analyzed Magic into a Genric Doomsday Villain Large Ham Evil Sorcerer. His Not So Different moment with The Lancer will stay but become meaningless, because their similarities have been removed. His devotion to academia will no longer be his main motivation, probably just a side quirk in the wake of his Omnicidal Mania.

Oh, and the plot will be butchered.

deleting old info about old projects, don't mind me~

Edited by ArilouLaLeeLay on Feb 11th 2024 at 5:57:17 PM