Reported on by Adrienne & Sophia, Teen Press Corps~
Shelf to Screen panel: Ransom Riggs, James Dashner, Gayle Forman, Kass Morgan
How would you feel about your book being turned into a movie? Pretty awesome, right? These four authors, Ransom Riggs, James Dashner, Gayle Forman, and Kass Morgan are feeling pretty awesome about it too!
In Morgan’s situation, it’s a little ironic, because she has “made tv [her] sworn enemy.” When it comes to involvement with the movie, the three authors (James, Gayle, and Kass) all started off with absolutely no interaction with the directors and producers. James states that he had “no contractual power over [his] film,” but that the crew wanted his involvement in the script, on set(!), and with the cast. “The director emailed me all the time,” was a common theme with all of the authors on the panel. Of course, the fans’ opinions and thoughts were taken into account as well, because without the fans, there’s no movie! And when the movie is being made, Kass says, “you actually learn things about the book you haven’t realized.” And when it comes to how close the movie replicates the book, they find the perfect example in Harry Potter. “In the first two movies,” James says, “you know what’s going happen, so there’s no real thrill. But when you get to the third movie, things really start to change. It’s more about capturing the spirit and tone of the book than the actual events.”
The panel also talked about their image of the book. Ransom said he thought his vision was going to be “taped over” by the movie, the actors were going to replace his vision of the characters. James said this definitely had this happen to him but he was perfectly okay with it because he loved the way his movie was cast. “Dylan O’Brien,” is all he had to say about that!
The authors were also asked a series of questions from the audience:
Q: If you only had enough life left to write one more book, what would you write about?
Ransom: I don’t want to die.
Gayle: I would want to use that time to live.
Kass: A book set in the 19th century.
James: A horror book with hundreds of pages.
Q: Is there going to be another book in The Maze Runner series?
James: Yes, it’s called The Fever Code. I wanted to write about what happened to the characters in The Maze Runner before they were put in the maze.
Q: Were there any changes from the book to the movie that you didn’t like
James: I don’t think I would change anything. I loved how the movie turned out.
Kass: I wouldn’t change anything either.
Q: What were your emotions when you worked on If I Stay?
Gayle: I cried on set the day I saw Mia’s house. I thought it was perfect.
From Shelf to Screen Panel featured:
Ransom Riggs, author of The Hollow City
James Dashner, author of The Maze Runner
Gayle Forman, author of If I Stay
Kass Morgan, author of The 100