Philippine literature deserves to be seen in all audio-visual forms
Our goal for 2023 was to attend film festivals and film markets from Europe to Asia and look for partnerships to aid our young filmmakers and creative talents in their cinematic development.
From these film markets, we have learned that there was one untapped opportunity that local producers and publishers should take notice—the book-to-screen adaptation market.
There are a lot of Filipino films that was adapted from comics, novels, and even short stories. The House of Zapote Street by Quijano de Manila (Nick Joaquin) was the inspiration of Mike de Leon’s iconic film, Kisapmata.
Lualhati Bautista’s feminist novels Dekada ’70 and Bata, Bata, Pa’no ka Ginawa? were commercial box-office hits in the theaters.
The comic series, Trese, by Budgette Tan and Kaio Baldismo produced by BASE Entertainment, a film production company in Indonesia, had a global-wide release
on Netflix.
Wattpad, an online platform where users can publish and read stories was a favorite site among production companies. Among the Wattpad titles produced into film were She’s Dating the Gangster, Diary ng Panget, Just the Way You Are, and Ex with Benefits.
We believe there is a growing demand from the producers who are on the lookout for original intellectual properties (IP).
Last May at the Cannes Film Festival, they organized Shoot the Book! which was “a collaborative initiative, bringing together French and European publishers and agencies with international producers seeking future projects.”
The “stars” of the 10th anniversary edition were the publishers. They presented their books to film and television producers who were seeking projects for screen adaptation. One-on-one meetings were also held to discuss strong, potential projects.
Producers were not only interested in financing but investing in the material’s development. The owners of the adaptation rights play a crucial part in this partnership but there is always a global demand for rich content, looking for the right story, distributing with proper timing. Shoot the Book! fostered this adaptation business.
At the 80th Venice International Film Festival, the 8th edition of the Book Adaptation Rights Market was held last September. A branch of the Venice Production Bridge, 34 international publishing houses and literary agencies were selected to participate in the market. Sadly, there was no representation from any Philippine publishing house.
We did meet writer Geraldine Solon, who was trying to sell her book, Indigo, to the foreign publishers. Geraldine is known for her debut novel, Love Letters which reached the overall Top 100 Amazon Bestseller List. She writes romance, women’s fiction, mystery, suspense, fantasy, and psychological thriller.
Indigo was published in 2019. It is the story of two soulmates in heaven brought to Earth unexpectedly. Grace must bring Michael back to Heaven, but Michael has lost his memory. On Earth, he is a married family man. Will Grace be successful with her quest?
In a study, films based on books comprise 70 percent of the top grossing film worldwide. Fiction titles as part of a series are most likely to become the most successful adaptation. Also, publishers can anticipate additional income from the books once the movie is released in cinemas.
Think of Jurassic Park, Twilight, The Hunger Games, The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, Fantastic Beasts, The Da Vinci Code, and Fifty Shades of Grey—all were the highest-grossing film adaptations in history.
The works of our National Artists F. Sionil Jose, Cirilo Bautista, Virgilio Almario, Bienvenido Lumbera, and N.V.M Gonzalez, among others, deserve to be produced and watched by the young generation in cinemas, television and streaming services.
We hope that in the future, our local publishers will be able to present their entire collection or catalogue for film adaptations of novels, dramas, short stories, children’s literature, biographies, comics, graphic novels, and even essays to a foreign film adaptation market.
Darna or Ang Panday invading Hollywood or the European market? That is our wishful thinking. Let us push our homegrown stories and talents to world!
