The Writers Guild of South Africa (WGSA) will host a Novel Adaptation Masterclass in partnership with Netflix and the University of Southern California (USC), School of Cinematic Arts (SCA), for advanced South African writers on 26 January 2023, at 18h30 – 20h30.
International and South African producers have been vying for rights for South African novels. Agents representing novelists are even carving up rights for streaming rights, film rights and even territorial regions. So, if you want the rights to a novel, you might only get it for a particular region. It’s become a highly competitive pursuit to gain access to these rights. But there is a wealth of South African intellectual property, whether its novels, plays or short stories. You could even adapt a hit song into a film.
South Africa’s film industry has a dynamic history of adaptations of novels and short stories into films. Most of us know of the Oscar-winning film adaptation by Gavin Hood of Athol Fugard’s novel, Tsotsi (2005). Some South African novels have even had more than one adaptation to screen. Alan Paton’s 1948 novel “ Cry Beloved Country” was made first in 1951, directed by Zoltan Korda and then again in 1995, directed by Darrell Roodt. Daleen Matthee’s novel “Fiela Se Kind’ was also adapted twice. Once in 1988 (adapted by Chris Barnard and directed by Katinka Heyns) and most recently in 2019 adapted and directed by Brett Michael Innes.
One of South Africa’s highest grossing films was the adaptation of Noziswe Cynthia Jele’s Happiness is a Four -Letter Word (2016), directed by Thabang Moleya, and adapted to screen by Busisiwe Ntintili.
But even of late there’s been a recognition that even for our smaller screens that novels can add value to our washing machine of melodrama. And many of us got hooked to the small screen with the adaptation of Dudu Busani-Dube smash hit novels “The Hlomu Series’ (The Wife).
Award-winning novelists such as Zakes Mda, Lauren Beukes and Deon Meyer have had their work adapted by celebrated filmmakers. As we continue to binge-watch streamers, let’s acknowledge that streamers have opened the doors for international audiences to consume content that was written by South Africans novelists. In 2022 Lauren Beukes novel, Shining Girls, premiered as a series on Apple TV. Leonard DiCaprio, and his production company Appian Way Productions acquired the TV rights in 2013 before the novel’s international release.
It’s time to celebrate not only the novelists but also who that have the skill to adapt often complex novels to the screen.
A unique opportunity for South African performance writers, i.e screenwriters to learn the finer art of adaptation and gain an understanding of how to access rights. After all there are many books that are no longer covered by rights and are in the public domain. If you are looking for insider information, or just interested to hone your skills or just struggling to adapt your own unpublished novel, join the Writers Guild of South Africa.
The 2-hour virtual interactive Novel Adaptation Masterclass will be led by Camille Tucker, screenwriter of the NAACP Image Award nominated TV movie The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel which was executive produced by Queen Latifah. An alum of UCLA with an MFA in screenwriting from Loyola Marymount. Camille has sold scripts to Starz, Sony, Universal, Fox and Disney, and has worked with producers Robert De Niro, Marc Platt, Debra Chase, and the late John Singleton. Also, a professor, she has a specialisation in adapting novels for the screen.
15 WGSA members will be selected for this Masterclass opportunity where participants will be taken through case studies and adaptation strategies, interactive exercises, and feedback regarding their own potential adaptation projects.
The workshop will be offered to experienced screenwriters and authors who may be working on or planning to do an adaptation of an existing novel for the screen. The workshop is focused on the tools of storytelling and the artistic pursuit of adaptation.
Applications, to gain one of the 15 spots in this Masterclass, are open until 9 January 2023, 12h00.
Camille Tucker is a writer, director, producer, and professor. She is the co-writer of Lifetime’s hit TV movie, The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel, which was executive produced by Queen Latifah and nominated for 5 NAACP Image Awards. Camille has recently sold a TV pilot to Starz with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson producing, is a writer and EP on the Gladys Knight limited series and is writing a feature biopic for LeBron James’ Springhill Entertainment and Disney+.
NOVEL ADAPTATION MASTERCLASS – Writers Guild of South Africa (writersguildsa.org)
