With its two new live events – a scriptwriting masterclass and a livestream for writers and producers to meet each other – Editis is helping to bridge the gap between the book and the screen.
The publishing industry is, by nature, a rich pool of stories, but it is still in a book’s interests to be performed and made into a production. This explains why so many films and series are taken from literary works.
This period of lockdown, which is giving all industries the chance to try something new, gave Editis the idea of helping writers and producers to meet virtually – the events where professionals from these two industries “physically” meet, traditionally held in Cannes and Berlin, being unable to take place this year. “From the Book to the Screen,” an initiative set up in just a few weeks, aims to foster exchanges between writers and producers through live public events on Dailymotion.
In practice, this new monthly event will allow authors 3 minutes to pitch a book with high potential for audiovisual adaptation. Acting as natural bridge between the two worlds of books and images, this is an opportunity for writers to consider new forms that their works could take on, and for Editis to recruit new talents and consolidate relations with current ones.
The first event, which took place on April 21, was based on the theme of thrillers and noir fiction, concentrating on five works by Michel Bussi, Franck Thilliez, Tatiana de Rosnay and Hervé Jourdain. Producers responded positively: 200 took part in the event and there were more than 80 requests for synopses and information about the available rights following the livestream on Dailymotion.
The next “From the Book to the Screen” livestream, scheduled for May 20, will focus on narrative/testimony.
On May 7, Editis also launched “Behind the Screen”, a series of masterclasses on scriptwriting and audiovisual adaptation, streamed on Dailymotion and aimed at both the group’s authors and publishers who work with our distributors, Interforum. The first speaker was the screenwriter Eric Benzekri (Baron Noir), streaming live to 140 registered authors who could ask him questions via a chat. This event, which helps Editis to further strengthen its relationship with its authors, is also intended to continue in the long term.
