Three YA authors speak about their successes writing television shows, movies and plays
Every aspiring writer knows that the road to publication is often long and fraught with difficulties, rejection and rewrites. But for writers who experience success not only in the book world, but also in writing for the visual media -- stage, film and television -- it's as though the fates are smiling. Such career diversity isn't unheard of; authors often dabble in writing styles; for example, playwright, editorial cartoonist and screenwriter Jules Feiffer eventually moved from writing scripts for films like Carnal Knowledge to creating children's books. But excelling at wearing more than one writing hat remains somewhat rare. PW recently spoke with three YA authors -- Rob Thomas, Cherie Bennett and Todd Strasser -- who are successfully writing for television, stage and film, in addition to publishing popular books for young readers.
Rob Thomas
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| Rob Thomas |
Ten years ago, University of Texas graduate Thomas was beginning a career as a high school journalism teacher in the Lone Star State and moonlighting as both a rock musician and a writer. But it didn't take long for him to heed the call of TV; in 1994 he began working for Channel One, the controversial TV station beamed into schools nationwide. In the same year, Thomas started his first novel, the well-received Rats Saw God (Simon &Schuster, 1996). And he also wrote a script called Fortune Cookie, about three couples who spend their first date at an unusual Chinese restaurant. The script caught the eye of Sony co-president Jeff Sagansky, as well as the creators of the teen TV drama Dawson's Creek, and thus began a whirlwind of writing opportunities for Thomas.
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| AN EARLY SCRIPT by Thomas led to his creation of ABC's Cupid. |
Thomas was soon hired as a staff writer for Dawson's Creek, but left after several months to pursue his own projects, namely a suggestion from Sagansky that Thomas adapt Fortune Cookie as a romantic comedy/ drama for television. The result is the critically acclaimed Cupid, currently airing Thursday nights on ABC. Thomas is billed as creator, executive producer and writer. And if that weren't enough to keep him busy, Thomas also wrote the screenplay for the just-completed Next to You, a summer 1999 film from Twentieth Century Fox starring Melissa Joan Hart (of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch fame) and adapted from the YA novel Girl Gives Birth to Own Prom Date by Todd Strasser.
Besides the move from Texas to Los Angeles, Thomas's blossoming writing credits have brought many other changes. "When I write a novel, it's organic; it's my own," Thomas said. "But with television, I'm answering to the studio, the network, the actors, the director. It's the difference between writing totally for myself and writing in a democracy."
There are other distinctions between the two careers as well. "It's a huge lifestyle difference," Thomas noted. "I'm a very early riser, so I used to write from 5:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. and then be done for the day. Now I find myself working from 5:30 a.m. till 11 or 12 at night. I went from a great lifestyle with no ties to one where I feel like I have a place to be each hour of the day."
A financial disparity between TV and novel writing is also obvious. "I received a $5000 advance for my first novel, which is not a very big figure," Thomas said. "Columbia TriStar and ABC will spend more than $30 million on this season of Cupid and employ 300 people on the show. The scrutiny is huge. At the end of the day, providing the content of the show is a phenomenal responsibility."
Thomas commented that he sometimes misses the more solitary life of a novelist. "I would love to write more novels," he said, "but I don't have the time right now. I can write a screenplay in six weeks for $300,000 or spend four months or so writing a book for $20,000. I admit it's difficult to pass up the money when it's being offered to me." For now, fans of his books might consider rereading Slave Day, Satellite Down and Doing Time (his other YA titles from S&S) or checking out Green Thumb, a scientific action-adventure about a boy helping to save the Amazon rain forest. Aimed at a slightly younger audience, this latest title is due from S&S in May.
But Thomas's analysis of his new job pressures should not be perceived as complaining; he is thoroughly enjoying his work and success. "From childhood on, it's always been writing for me," he said. "I always have to have some big dream, a creative goal to shoot for, and when I'm writing, I feel like I'm reaching that."
Cherie Bennett
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| BENNETT: Counts playwriting as her "biggest passion." |
When Cherie Bennett was a struggling actor and singer in New York City several years ago, she became increasingly frustrated at the lack of good parts available. So she decided to write a play for herself. Honky Tonk Angels was first produced at New York's Westbeth Theater Center in New York in 1988, and the experience opened Bennett to a whole new line of work as a playwright and, eventually, a YA novelist.
"Playwriting is my biggest passion," Bennett said. "A play is all about character and that's what interests me most. Theater is the hottest, most in-your-face form of entertainment. It's live and in-the-moment; the heat of that is extremely appealing to me."
In 1991 she decided to further expand her repertoire, and began writing a mass market series for young adults, the Sunset Island series published by Berkley until 1997, which grew to include 41 titles. Other series include Bridesmaids from Scholastic and Teen Angels from Avon. Bennett is also very proud of her first work of hardcover fiction, Life in the Fat Lane (Delacorte, 1998). The story of a prom queen who gains 100 pounds and must deal with serious problems of body image, was "written from personal experience," according to Bennett. "I'm not naïve enough to think that this book can cure girls with eating disorders or body image problems. But I know from their letters that I have been able to help empower some young women, and that's exciting." Bennett takes her commitment to teen issues so seriously, in fact, that she also pens a weekly syndicated teen advice column.
For Bennett, though, writing plays is still her most passionate pursuit. She has established a solid reputation as a writer of dramas with adult/young adult crossover appeal. Her works have won several awards, including two New Visions/New Voices awards from the Kennedy Center for Cyra in 1996 and Searching for David's Heart last year. In 1996, her play Anne Frank &Me (co-written with her husband, Jeff Gottesfeld) debuted off-Broadway at the American Jewish Theatre. The drama, about modern American teens who come to better understand the Holocaust, will be adapted into a novel (Putnam, 2000; also co-written with Gottesfeld).
Fortunately, Bennett seems to move with ease between these two writing forms. "Things I cannot do on the page, I can do on the stage and vice versa," Bennett said. "With novels, I have so much more latitude, room for exposition -- it's a great luxury." Another play, Zink: The Myth, the Legend, the Zebra, will be adapted as a novel for Delacorte this year and a stage production of Searching for David's Heart, which was published as a novel by Scholastic late last year, is currently in development.
Like Thomas, Bennett has also been bitten by the television writing bug, working on several network daytime dramas. This form of script writing has informed her other projects, too. "Characters and dialogue were always my strong suit," Bennett said, "but writing for daytime drama has really helped me with plotting." She hopes to do more television writing as well as film writing, and to that end, she and Gottesfeld are planning a move from their home in Nashville to Los Angeles in the near future.
If she weren't consumed by the plethora of writing projects on her plate, Bennett said, she would be singing and acting, endeavors she misses. "But," she added, "I hope that what I'm doing as a writer is more important than any play I would be in. I'm honored that what I write touches kids. That's a success that just feeds on itself."
Todd Strasser
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| STRASSER: Looks for book ideas with TV of film potential. |
Strasser is certainly no stranger to shifting writing gears. He began his career in the 1970s writing advertising copy and working as a newspaper reporter, though he didn't feel fulfilled. "I always wanted to write novels," he said, "but I had to make a living, too." His dream of publishing a book came true in 1979 when Putnam released Angel Dust Blues. Now that he's working in the field of children's and young adult publishing, Strasser remains flexible. To date he's written nearly 100 books for young readers (including How I Spent My Last Night on Earth, the aforementioned Girl Gives Birth to Own Prom Date and the middle-grade Help! I'm Trapped series) and has also made his mark writing 35 feature-film novelizations and tie-ins.
"The novelizations were how I got involved with TV and film," he recalled. Some of his earlier projects included adapting one of his books for an Afterschool Special and working for such daytime dramas as The Guiding Light.
Coincidentally, Strasser, who has the same editor as Rob Thomas (S&S's David Gale), was asked to write a movie treatment for Thomas's Rats Saw God when that book first came out. Though that project didn't move forward, Strasser has recently completed the final revisions on an adaptation of his Help! I'm Trapped in the First Day of School, which will air this year as a movie on the Disney Channel.
"Writing for TV is very exciting," Strasser remarked. "It's a good change of pace. There are very visual things that you can do for television. For instance, it d sn't always work when you try to describe a great sight gag in a book. That's a case where a picture is worth a million words."
Strasser also noted the reverse situation where books gain the upper hand. "In my Against All Odds books [middle grade adventures from Pocket], I write about shark attacks, tropical storms and other wild things -- you could never realistically do that for TV." As a general writing approach, he said, "I try to work on book ideas that have TV or movie potential. I think that putting all your energy into developing and pitching a movie or TV idea alone is a waste of time. If I'm also creating it as a book, then I have something to show for my work."
These days many of Strasser's ideas come from his 14-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son. "I get a lot of information from them," he said. "When you live in the suburbs [the Strassers live outside New York City], a lot of your life focuses on the kids." He added, "I love writing for kids and teenagers because I feel like they are still impressionable -- I can still reach them. I also like to use a lot of humor and teens and kids are more open to that -- they get it."
Strasser is very excited about the Thomas-scripted Next to You, based on Girl Gives Birth, and like Thomas, he fully realizes the pressures involved. "There's an awful lot at stake," Strasser noted. "You can't take as many risks; you need to be on the money."
For those who haven't seen any of Strasser's, Bennett's or Thomas's work on the big or small screen, or on stage, they probably will soon. From the sheer volume of work they produce, it's easy to surmise that there will be little rest for these three success stories. And their ever-widening circles of fans couldn't be happier.
