Hailey's Novel Diary – 1/3/18

What kind of movie could someone make from my book? The options are basically feature film, movie of the week or TV series. Everyone wants their book to be a feature, but those are the most expensive to make and studios only put out so many each year. Movies of the week are cheaper, faster and far less glamorous. I don't think you should ever write a book hoping it becomes a movie, but I doubt anyone writes while dreaming of a movie of the week. A TV series is better suited to epic sagas, especially in the fantasy or young adult genres. My single book is about adults in the present who never go to a supernatural war or encounter magical creatures. It takes place over a relatively short period of time and could never be stretched out over six TV seasons.

With the Weinstein connection, this book could easily be a movie of the week. That could get it out to the public before everyone forgets about him. My personal opinion is that a feature film would be a much better choice, but I assume that is everyone's opinion. Once you sell the film rights, other people make those decisions. They could make an Oscar winning feature that changes the course of humanity forever or a single episode of a Lifetime series that will be canceled next week. Nothing is up to me.

Once someone who is not me decides how to film it, they need to get a cast and crew. Who would direct it? I have no idea. The budget would determine the director, and sometimes the director would determine the budget. If the story is sold to A&E as an episode of one of their series, we can assume that Martin Scorsese will not be directing. Most of the main characters are women, so he would not be involved anyway. On the other hand, if the Coen brothers or PT Anderson got involved, it would automatically be a feature. Realistically, it would most likely be someone I have never heard of, no matter how it gets categorized.

If I could pick my ideal cast, it would be Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Paul Newman, Ingrid Bergman (or Grace Kelly – I'm flexible), Van Johnson, Henry Fonda, Paulette Goddard, Joan Bennett, Agnes Moorehead and Bette Davis, with Orson Welles or Broderick Crawford as the Weinstein character. I'm pretty sure none of them are available, and no studio would want to pay for all of those names, but they could all play the parts beautifully. I would go see that movie no matter what it was about.

As far as actors who are alive and working today, I have no idea. None of the characters were written with any actors in mind, living or dead. One of the characters bases one of her performances on Katharine Hepburn, but I never thought in a million years that Katharine Hepburn would play that character. For obvious reasons. Most of the leads are in their 20s-30s. Today's younger actors do computer animated comic book movies that I have never seen. This is one of many instances where it's a good thing that I would not be in charge. Working professionals more qualified than I should make those decisions.