How to Adapt Anything into a Screenplay

Rating:
Summary: No TV shows.
Review: A book claiming to tell you how to adapt "anything" into a screenplay should have a bit more than books, short stories and plays. I mean, books and short stories are basically the same kind of thing! While it does have an example of comic book adaptation (X-Men), it doesn't have anything about adapting a serial or TV-show. Since this is a fairly common form of adaptation (e.g. The Flintstones, SWAT, Firefly) I am somewhat disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: No TV shows.
Review: A book claiming to tell you how to adapt "anything" into a screenplay should have a bit more than books, short stories and plays. I mean, books and short stories are basically the same kind of thing! While it does have an example of comic book adaptation (X-Men), it doesn't have anything about adapting a serial or TV-show. Since this is a fairly common form of adaptation (e.g. The Flintstones, SWAT, Firefly) I am somewhat disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: A useful book for the subject!
Review: After writing one screenplay and one teleplay, I still didn't "get it." I'd read a half dozen books on scriptwriting but was still a bit muddled. The light bulb finally went off with this book. Krevolin starts with short but useful information on structure. This includes a nice breakout of 'where your script should be' by certain pages. He explains it so that you don't just get the formula: you understand the dramatic and narrative reasons for the page delineations.

And he includes the Scene-O-Gram (borrowed from fellow instructor Hal Ackerman). This is a marvelous visual tool. It shows your script from back story to climax as clearly as possible. Combined with his explanation of page 'marks', I finally realized how a script should truly flow together.

Then he takes several films, including The Patriot, X-Men and The Shawshank Redemption, and looks at key elements while placing them into the Scene-O-Gram format. This is not simply formulaic plug and place. It is a look at key components and structure for adapting an existing piece of writing.

Krevolin's book will help you select the most important elements to keep from the work you're adapting, and how to put them together. A must-have if you plan on adapting something into a screenplay.

Rating:
Summary: No Credits on IMDB?
Review: As a new screenwriter trying to soak up all the information I can about writing, I bought this book and was disappointed. I started to raise my eyebrow a bit in the beginning of it and so I went the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) to see what screenplays the author had written so that I could assure myself that this guy actually knew what he was talking about, but he had no writing credits at all! Not even "Glitter" or "Gigli" - even as bad as those are, at least that would mean that he has actually written a script that got picked up which would then give him the right to teach me a few lessons. I re-read the back of the book and it says that he is a professor of screenwriting. It was at that point that I put this book down for good and reminded myself of a famous quote, "Those who can't do, teach."

Rating:
Summary: DO NOT BUY!!! I wish I could give this 0 stars
Review: Do not buy this book. It is garbage. Save your money. Or burn your money, it's a better use than giving to this guy or his publishers. There's not enough foul language to describe the craposity this book has within its covers. I feel bad for the trees that sacrificed their lives for this book. Dick Krevolin should plant a tree for every page of this book to repay the world to the damage he has done. I'm kidding of course, but this book really did illicit some strong anger within me for some reason, I guess I'm just sick of all these "How to" ass holes making a living off of suckers (like me) who are willing to give their theories a shot. I wish there was more roadblocks in the way of these guys getting books published. Don't waste your time, get a good book on writing like Egri's "Art of Dramatic Writing" or Russin/Downs "Screenplay Writing the Picture". These are classics, very helpful, and inspiring, unlike this one which is just patronizing, obvious, and annoying.

Rating:
Summary: not helpful
Review: i really didn't find this very helpful. i think it's sort of a neat idea to try and have a book about adapting "anything" but in the end it didn't help me. i'm adapting a book to the screen, one of the most common adaptations, and this book provided very little insight. it just restated what i already know. as most so-called "how-to" screenwriting books do, this follows in the tradition of giving new names to common sense terms that you already know as a writer.

Rating:
Summary: not helpful
Review: i really didn't find this very helpful. i think it's sort of a neat idea to try and have a book about adapting "anything" but in the end it didn't help me. i'm adapting a book to the screen, one of the most common adaptations, and this book provided very little insight. it just restated what i already know. as most so-called "how-to" screenwriting books do, this follows in the tradition of giving new names to common sense terms that you already know as a writer.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent working writer's guide
Review: Richard Krevolin has concisely put into print a set of principles that deserves a place on your bookshelf next to Hauge and McKee, and, if followed will guide you to tell your story in the most effective and screenworthy manner. This book will fuel your passion as well as provide the guiding principles you can use to adapt pre-existing works or your own original stories.
Richard Bagdazian
President, San Diego Screenwriters' Association

Rating:
Summary: terrible, absolutely terrible
Review: this guy and his book are a joke. adapt anything into a screenplay? come on! like it's that easy. this guy's a hack. has he ever even written a screenplay? i doubt it. this book is a load of donkey poo. take a class or just write. learn to write well. don't follow trends or listen to idiots like this. if you really want to read this still, go to a bookstore and read it, DO NOT BUY. it's a rip off.

Rating:
Summary: Useless
Review: This is a just a bad book. Plain and simple. Just bad. I sold it to a used book store a week after a bought it.