Avi

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Movies vs. Reality

book into movieOne of the high­est com­pli­ments kids bestow upon my books is, “It would make a great movie.” At least they present the remark as a com­pli­ment. I like to think it is because my books are vivid, and detailed, but that is just a guess. Over the years, any num­bers of my books have been optioned for movies, and while some of the projects have pro­gressed less and more, the films have nev­er been made. All this comes to mind because a pro­duc­er has approached me about a pos­si­ble series based on the Crispin books. I do not have much in the way of expec­ta­tions, sim­ply because of my pri­or expe­ri­ence in the world of film. That said, the oth­er ques­tion in this regard which kids ask is, “Would you like one of your books to be made into a movie?”

When the books have pro­gressed to the script stage, and a few have, I always feel a sense of dis­ap­point­ment at what has been done. The books seem fine the way they are. That said, a film, would bring more read­ers to the book, and I would enjoy that. The mon­ey? Writ­ers of books on which movies are based get far less than pop­u­lar imag­i­na­tion would dole out.

The truth is, when a pro­duc­er calls me about the pos­si­bil­i­ty of a film, I tell them to call my agent, wish them all the best, and get on with my writ­ing. It’s real.

1 thought on “Movies vs. Reality”

  1. I have NEVER liked a movie bet­ter than the book! Some have come clos­er to pleas­ing me than oth­ers and I’ve dis­cov­ered it depends on how true to the book they are! I pre­fer read­ing to the sen­sa­tion­al­ism of movies! You said yes­ter­day to my stu­dents, and then again to the teach­ers, “It’s what the read­er puts into the book that makes it com­pre­hen­si­ble; this is impos­si­ble to do in most movies and tv shows because they are just not real.” Yes, indeed, Avi, your writ­ing is real!

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