Screenwriting for Authors! Easier Than You Think

 Hello Authors and Writers and Storytellers!

Here are the details on the ADAPTATION Workshop I'm offering:

SATURDAY June 28th 2025

10 am Pacific Time 

90 minutes of instruction

On Zoom. (you don't need to be on camera if you don't want)

In this workshop/class I teach how to take a novel, extract the story to it's essence, then build it up to a movie using scenes and dialogue from the book.

We go step by step from learning how to write the story's log line, to mapping out the movie's structure to the conclusion of your screenplay's adventure.

I use a Power Point presentation to teach because the first lesson of screenwriting is that people love to be visually entertained! With me talking in the top corner, we go through the slides that teach you the steps to writing a movie from a book. It's easier than you think. You already have the story, you just need to fit it into movie format.

At the end, there'll be time for questions. 

The cost is $40 (when I teach this for writing groups it's $150) and I guarantee you'll get $40 worth of information you can use. You can pay me on Paypal using kimhornsby@yahoo.com or Venmo kim6060.

After the class, I refer students to a craft book I wrote on the adaptation.

Note: I will be mentoring writers at a Greek Writing Retreat in September and if you are an author wanting to work with me in Greece to write a screenplay, this class is the first step. Once you take the class, you will be qualified to participate in the Greek retreat and work with me 1:1 on your very own screenplay!

Kim Hornsby

www.kimhornsby.info

www.thegoodwordwritersretreat.com

Page to Screen - Pitching Tips for Book to Movie

Are you an author? A screenwriter? Have you ever pitched your work to a producer or a studio in hopes of seeing your book on the big screen?

Now you can.
In Spokane, Washington. The link to Connecting Writers with Hollywood is at the end of this blog, if you think you have something that would adapt well.

I've written blogs and magazine articles on my experiences pitching to producers, studio heads, screenwriters etc but today I want to offer something more hands-on, practical, to anyone who is headed somewhere with the intention of pitching their book to anyone who might adapt it to a big screen (or a little screen!)

First, remember that you have a product to sell and you're not taking up someone's time if their job is to acquire material (product) for their company. You don't need to feel beholden to the person you pitch to. They are looking for people like you and should be eager to listen to your pitch.

Do your homework. Prepare until you are sick of the sound of your own self-promoty voice.
Here are some questions that will help you prepare your pitch so that you come off as the confident sales person you are.

Book or Screenplay?:
Title:
Genre: (High Action War Movie. Romantic Comedy, Dystopian Young Adult etc)
Logline: (One sentence crux of your story- see below blog)
Short Pitch (in about 200 impact-filled words - Each section must drive the action and build the suspense of what’s coming next. The conclusion should be tight and must tie up all loose ends.)
Why will your project make an AMAZING movie?
-Location/Setting (See your setting through a movie camera lens)
-Story line (Touch on Goal, Motivation, Conflict)
-Action (make a list of all the action scenes in your story)
-Characters (Make them come to life in description)
What is the Essence of your story? (Describe the soul of the book in one sentence)

What actors could play the leads (Use well-known, current, successful, popular in that genre stereotypes, not your favorite, little-known actor who usually doesn't play this type of role)
Film or TV Series (Imagine how your project would look as a Feature Film, an Indie Film, or on an HBO limited series, or a sit-com on Network TV)

LOGLINES: Very important! Take time to write a great one. 

WHO?

GOAL?

OBSTACLE?

If it doesn't take you at least an hour to write the perfect logline for the movie of the adaptation, go back to fine-tune it. A meandering log line or pitch suggests a poorly written story.

Here are example log lines from movies:

A Pennsylvania steel-town ambitious and hot headed high school coach tries to spoil a football hero’s scholarship dream. 

A thief, who steals corporate secrets through use of dream-sharing technology, is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO.

A team of explorers travel through a wormhole in space in an attempt to ensure humanity's survival.  

An insomniac office worker, looking for a way to change his life, crosses paths with a devil-may-care soap maker, forming an underground fight club that evolves into something much, much more. 

A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.

 A writer and wall street trader, Nick, finds himself drawn to the past and lifestyle of his millionaire neighbor, Jay Gatsby.

   __________________________________________________________________________

Now go write a log line.

Just before you pitch, gather all the enthusiasm you can muster (think of the time someone asked you if you love your newborn baby) and pitch like this is the best idea EVER and the person in front of you will benefit greatly from your genius. Pretend you are telling a campfire story, not rattling off sentences.
You only get one chance to pitch and then it's GONE!

Join us in Spokane!
Connecting Writers with Hollywood - Spokane Washington, May 25 - 27th
www.cwwh2016.com

(Don't be fooled by 2016 - This is the site for the 2017 Conference where I'll be teaching on the Thursday afternoon - just before Chuck Palahniuk, who wrote The Fight Club!)

Kim Hornsby is the Author of Award-Winning The Dream Jumper's Promise available on Amazon Books. She is a Bestselling Supernatural Suspense Author who lives in the Seattle area where she writes during the rainy months.