'Book adaptations hold significant appeal'

‘From my perspective, in general producers and studios find content from the world of books highly attractive for development due to established storytelling, inspiration, quality recognition, and a built-in audience. While there may be instances of preferring original content, book adaptations hold significant appeal...

The ongoing strikes of the WGA [Writers Guild of AmericaAssociation of writers in motion picture, broadcast, cable and new media.  http://www.wga.org] against major studios and streaming platforms are not directly related to the preference for book adaptations but are centered on specific issues regarding writers' rights, fair compensation, and working conditions. It's all about having found something which sounds like a real movie, the kind we literally don't come across much anymore. And that should feel like a rebuke to formula screenplays...

In the best properties we grow to know the characters, and the story pays due respect to their complexities and needs. There's always the sense that they exist in the now and not at some point along a predetermined continuum. Sometimes I read a book that unspools like a tape measure, and I can sense how far we are from the end. Sometimes my imagination is led to live right along with it.'

Kamran Sardar Khan of Stuttgart's East End Film has produced some 150 feature films and - being a great reader - has included literary adaptations in that body of work, in Publishing Perspectives