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Adaptations: Now a Major Motion Picture
Why Australian producers still go looking for novels, even as adaptations decline.
An excerpt. The full piece is live at the link below.
The number of Australian film projects that are adaptations – that is, based on an existing novel, short story, stage play, musical or some other creative work – is declining, according to Screen Australia. Only 38 of the 200 Australian films produced between 1999 and 2008 were adaptations – compare that 19 per cent figure to the 1920s, when one-third of all Australian films were based on existing works.
And compare that figure to the current rate of adaptation in the US where 50 per cent of all films are adaptations, and they account for 60-70 per cent of the box office take each year.
Why are adaptations important? The Australian Film Television and Radio School’s head of screenwriting, Ross Grayson Bell, believes these sorts of projects are vital for Australian producers. “Adaptations get better funding, and they do better at the box office,” he says.
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