Which children's books would make good films? And are these the ones that actually do make it on to the screen? In the light of the success of the Harry Potter films, the Lord of the Rings and now Narnia, hardly a week goes by without the news that film rights have been optioned in a children's book title.
But how many of these actually get made? We have had Holes, Millions and the animated and very peculiar version of Howl's Moving Castle and great successes with Babe (The Sheep Pig), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (twice) and 101 Dalmatians (both live action and animation). But will we actually see Across the Nightingale Floor, Molly Moon, Lion Boy or Artemis Fowl? The first film based on Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials has been bogged down in disagreements about script (Tom Stoppard left) and director (two so far).
A talent scout for Miramax is quoted as saying, øYou have as much chance, statistically, of being struck by lightning as of actually having your novel made into a film." (Hollywood-style endings for some by Amanda Craig (The Times 5.11.05).
At the Annual Bologna Children's Books Rights Fair, there is now a special TV and Film area, so vital is it to have that all-important celluloid deal. Yet Tolkien and C. S. Lewis have made it to the screen only half a century after their classic stories were first published.
Many years ago I read a list of spoof definitions in an article which included the following:
So I was fascinated to hear what Fiona Kenshole had to say at a recent CWIG meeting at the Society of Authors, called Scouting for Family Films. Fiona, formerly of OUP and before that Hodder, Collins and A & C Black, is now Director of Scouting Operations [sic] for Laika Entertainment, a film company in the US which makes full-length animated features.
She pitches four projects at a time but only about one in ten ever goes through to being made into a film. The emphasis is on story: the plot must be capable of being boiled down to a single sentence. Films are expensive to make - $50 to 60 million to make a full length animation ¨ and the marketing budgets are almost as large as the production ones.
A family film has to appeal to mums, dads, teenagers and young kids too. It is an expensive business taking a whole family to the movies so why should we do it, rather than waiting for the cheaper experience of renting or buying the DVD?
What really works well is talking animals, a journey or quest, humour, lots of sentiment (especially for the US market). It's important also not to require complicated facial reactions, though apparently animation can now do hair properly!
So there you have it. The perfect book for animation will feature funny, hairy talking animals on an emotionally rewarding quest but with few facial expressions. Sort of Crufts crossed with the Simpsons. I'm already firing up the lapdog, sorry, laptop.