With the high demand for quality movie features and streaming series, more and more scripts are being adapted from novels, memoirs, short stories—even magazine articles. In fact, about two-thirds of new films are adaptations. If you look at the top 20 grossing films worldwide, 70% are based on books. Why? Adaptations often generate more revenue than original screenplays because they have name recognition and a ready following.

Mastering the art of adaptation makes you more employable as a screenwriter. Plus, it enables you to write your book and adapt it to the screen, a double play that boosts your income and control of your project. Think Gillian Flynn, who wrote Gone Girl, the book and the movie. Or Jesse Andrews, who wrote He, Earl, and the Dying Girl, which became a Sundance favorite even though Andrews, the author, had never written a film script before.

If you’re interested in adaptation, this class will walk you through it step by step. Margaret South will draw on her experience developing the screenplay for Beaches by Mary Agnes Donahue, based on the novel by Iris Rainer Dart, and will guide you through the process of turning original source material into a winning screenplay.