How to adapt a literary work to the screen? This is the whole point of the project «From Book to Screen». Through workshops, ten budding screenwriters were able to benefit from the expertise and know-how of a genre specialist to adapt Polynesian works for the cinema. We were able to witness the final workshop. Reportage.
Attentive, their heads bent on the computer, their eyes fixed… Sitting at their desks in the Marama room of the House of Culture, The «students» of Franck Philippon, a renowned screenwriter, are focused. It's time for the evaluation. Launched at the 2021 Book Fair, the project «From book to screen» The final phase of the process begins. After two workshops already held in November and December, the time has come for the final workshop. The ten participants confront their scenario with the professional whose reputation has spread beyond the borders, and fine-tune the final details together before the grand oral presentation. On Friday, February 11, they will have to pitch their scenario to a jury during a session from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. «It won’t be easy, it’s a challenge, but Franck prepares us. Here we are making the final adjustments: the transitions between scenes, the image plans… The experience of Franck brings us a lot,» Cynthia confides. The thirty-year-old has chosen to adapt one of the new stories by Chantal Spitz, Cartes Postales. The task is arduous but enriching. She is not the only one to have selected this author, well known to the Polynesians. «I really like his reputation, which is honest and it’s the first book I’ve read,» explains Rehia. «I was a little afraid of adapting a Chantal Spitz novel, but I hope I’ve lived up to expectations.» This 23-year-old student has dedicated himself to the first novel in Cartes postales. Through the various sessions, he learned a method for composing his story. "I realized that there are, for example, three acts: exposition, development, resolution. It’s a structure that works for all stories, whether they’re about adventures or dramas.".
One in five films is an adaptation. In 2021, Gallimard staged nine screenings at the 74th Cannes Film Festival… According to a statistical study conducted by Livres Hebdo in May 2018, of the 731 films released in theaters in France during a year, nearly 20 % are adaptations. So why not bring the stories, voices, and histories of Polynesia to the big screen? That’s the whole point. The idea of the Association of Publishers of Tahiti and the Islands and the Fifo, in partnership with the ATPA and with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the SCELF and the CFC. An idea that is a resounding success among the participants. «I have always dreamed of taking a training in scriptwriting. They offered me this opportunity and we are well aware of the value of this training with Franck,» says Karine, a professional teacher. The fifty-year-old, who adapts Les savates de l’homme heureux, an album of youth literature, embarked on the adventure blindly. Today, she is more knowledgeable about the subject. «I had an idea of the narrative structure and the protagonists, but here I understood the codes of audiovisual storytelling. It’s a writing that requires visuality. We are used to having literary writing, whereas here we are asked to be more precise, more concise, not to be redundant. They don’t even ask you to be a good writer.» Dan, in his forties, realized that he needed to structure his script, an adaptation of Méridien Zéro by Mourareau. But most importantly, he understood that he was like a chef who has to adapt, often customize, a recipe to create an excellent dish. «The work sessions were very serious; I learned a lot, we were really supported,» confides this former coder in the video game industry who is going through a period of transition. These workshops could well steer him towards new horizons… The finalized scenarios will be presented to a jury during the FIFO, which will designate the best adaptation. Subsequently, the production of the selected project (depending on the budget obtained) will be coordinated by the ATPA. One of the participants will therefore see his project brought to the screen. The beginning of a new adventure.
INTERVIEW / Three questions to Franck Philippon, screenwriter and producer
He is a regular at FIFO. For four years, he has run scriptwriting workshops at the festival. As a screenwriter and producer, he has put his talent to work for young scriptwriters in training. A screenwriter in 1997, he splits his time between film, for which he has written three films, and television, where he has created eight series (La Crim’, No Limit, Mirage, Maison Close, Renaissance, etc.). He regularly conducts training courses at various schools or institutions. Interview.
You left from’works Polynesian women, is this a discovery?
I have read most of the books, I know quite a few authors. But there were many books I didn’t know about that I was delighted to discover. There are very different things, from children’s books to adult books, from news stories to novels… They made their choice and it was interesting to let them take ownership of a work to express something that is like them. Making an adaptation that is both faithful to the book and at the same time they inject their own perspective into it, whether it is a personal work. That is what is interesting to me as a trainer because it is a perspective on the world that is not mine.
What are the keys to a good script?
Having a good character and immersing them in an interesting conflict situation, from which they will have to get out of it. When starting from a book, the advantage is that the story is already in the book, so the material is already there. It is therefore not necessary to invent the story, but to adapt it; it is therefore less complicated. After that, you need to organize it so that it looks like a screenplay, knowing that writing a book is not the same as writing a screenplay; there are not the same methods and tools. Therefore, you need to know how to analyze what is exploitable in the book in order to translate it into a screenplay.
What is the result of this training?
The goal was to give them technical tools to write a screenplay and tell a story in an audiovisual format. Then, they had to apply them to the writing of a short film adapted from a book so that they could finally complete the script. In most of the projects, I find that there are very beautiful scripts. Most of them took on the chosen works to make their own version of them. I have no doubt that they will succeed in completing their scripts. I find that there are very different but overall very successful things. They worked very well.
Article written by Sulianne Favennec
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