Why I'm Writing a Screenplay Adaptation of Unnamed Roads (Alissa Grosso)

Last year I released my first fully self-published novel. (Previously the rights on my first three traditionally published books had reverted back to me and I republished those.) Unnamed Roads came out last spring and has been quietly selling.

I'm pretty sure at one point or another, every author has dreamed of their book being turned into a movie. Who wouldn't want to see their story on the big screen? And, of course, we'd all be happy with the extra book sales a cinematic release would most likely generate.

When my first novel Popular, was about to be published, I was contacted by a producer who was looking for high school themed content for Fox. Of course I sent him a copy of the book, but alas, it wasn't quite what they were looking for. I can understand that. I think it would be tough to turn that novel into a movie or TV show.

Unnamed Roads on the other hand is a book that I think would translate nicely to film, which is why I've begun writing a screenplay adaptation. Now, before you get all excited, no Hollywood producers have reached out to me. This is purely a passion project for me.

Realistically, there are a LOT of novels published each year, and only a handful of them will be be optioned for film or television. Of that handful only a small percentage will ever become movies or television shows. With that in mind, there are probably a lot better ways to spend my time. So, that's why this screenplay project of mind is something I only work on here and there as time allows.

I should also warn those of you who are planning on following in my footsteps, that should you become one of the chosen ones whose book gets optioned, chances are they are going to want their own screenwriter or team of writers to tackle the screenplay, because nine times out of ten professional screenwriters are going to produce a much better screenplay than anything an author can put together. 

Yet, still I'm forging ahead with this little screenwriting project of mine. It's like the writing equivalent of a vision board or my own little field of dreams. So page by page my little novel is becoming a movie, at least in my head.

Alissa Grosso is the author of 7 books and chronicles her writing and publishing misadventures on the Awkward Author vlog and podcast. Find out more about her at alissagrosso.com.