Are Authors Now Writing More for TV Producers Than Readers?

The first few pages of Long Island Compromise, the second book by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, have all the tension and intrigue of a gripping TV show opening. It’s March 1980. Carl Fletcher owns a pollution-spewing polystyrene factory established by his Holocaust survivor father. This factory has made the Fletchers “extraordinarily, absurdly” rich, especially in the affluent Long Island neighborhood of Middle Rock. Carl confidently strides down his driveway, ready for another workday, until his world turns dark as he is kidnapped and imprisoned in a cupboard for days while his captors try to extract ransom money from his wife. Flash forward three decades and the ramifications of this event “play out riotously in the soul and on the body” of the Fletchers and their three children. It’s certainly an unenviable inheritance.

This book has a recent period setting that will look fantastic on screen, with its fancy seafront houses packed with Eighties paraphernalia. There’s a gripping kidnap plot, based on a real-life case of the 1974 abduction of Jack Teich, a friend of Brodesser-Akner’s father. Teich’s abductors demanded $750,000 (£578,700), the highest-ever ransom in the US at that time. There’s also a significant amount of wealth and plenty of inherited trauma for a trio of very different siblings to navigate, echoing themes seen in shows like Succession.

Brodesser-Akner’s acclaimed 2019 debut, Fleishman Is in Trouble, which insightfully skewered a wealthy New York couple’s divorce, ended up as an equally successful Hulu/Disney+ miniseries. So, it’s no surprise that Long Island Compromise has already been optioned for television. Producers snapped it up even before it hit bookstores, a fate becoming increasingly common. The same thing happened with Bonnie Garmus’s hit novel Lessons in Chemistry, now an Apple TV+ show starring Brie Larson. Jodie Comer was announced as the star of an adaption of Jen Beagin’s Big Swiss before the novel’s publication, and HBO, the BBC, and production company A24 bought the rights to The List by British author Yomi Adegoke while she was still writing it.

In April, three months ahead of its July release date, it was reported that Apple TV+ had bought the screen rights for a future adaptation of Brodesser-Akner’s second book. Apple TV+ is arguably the most literary of the streamers, with many of its hit shows based on books, from the darkly funny spy thriller Slow Horses to the historical epic Pachinko. According to Deadline, multiple studios vied for the project, with bids allegedly reaching up to $1 million upfront. Brodesser-Akner will write the screenplay, as she did for Fleishman Is in Trouble, a script that earned her an Emmy nomination last year.

A decade ago, many touted TV shows as the new novels, with complex characters and big questions about life, akin to Breaking Bad, Mad Men, and The Sopranos. TV’s “golden age” began to tarnish as streamers flooded their platforms with mediocre content. Television didn’t obliterate the novel; instead, it fostered a symbiotic relationship between books and prestige TV.

Streaming platforms still need a vast reservoir of stories to keep viewers engaged. Novels serve as a reliable source of material, and an eight-episode series can often do justice to a long, intricately plotted book in a way a two-hour film cannot. The term “literary adaptation” imbues a project with prestige. Meanwhile, for authors, selling an option is a viable way to earn significant money, and a successful show can boost book sales.

This situation benefits both parties, though it does raise questions about whether some novelists now write with an eye on a future TV deal. In a 2021 article in The Atlantic, academics Alexander Manshel, Laura B McGrath, and JD Porter discussed how they analyzed 400 successful 21st-century novels and identified recurring “option aesthetics” like episodic plots, ensemble casts, and intricate world-building.

Long Island Compromise fits this mold perfectly. There are flashbacks ripe for standalone episodes and richly drawn characters like Nathan, who becomes overly cautious after his father’s kidnapping, Bernard (or Beamer), a screenwriter masking his inner turmoil with drugs and BDSM, and Jenny, who immerses herself in union politics to counter her wealthy capitalist parents. Brodesser-Akner’s adept shifting between perspectives feels almost cinematic, sometimes even using “Cut to…” as a scene transition.

Some characteristics celebrated in novels for centuries now make them ideal for TV adaptation. Books featuring episodic plots, ensemble casts, and intricate world-building can trace their roots back to authors like Charles Dickens. Long Island Compromise stands as a compelling read on its own while examining how trauma and wealth affect a family through generations, although it tends to wrap things up too neatly towards the end, echoing common screenwriting pitfalls.

Brodesser-Akner brings a self-aware, meta quality to her novel, reflecting her experiences in entertainment. Her character Beamer once created a blockbuster about a kidnapping with his friend Charlie, clearly influenced by his father’s ordeal. Beamer revisits this theme repeatedly, but Charlie proposes a TV show about siblings vying to take over a family business. Initially dismissive, Beamer eventually sees the potential when Charlie’s show, Family Business, becomes a hit, highlighting that stories rooted in character and nuance can indeed captivate audiences.

Much like Long Island Compromise, these stories prioritize real people and their complexities over dramatic plot twists. And honestly, both the novel and its potential TV adaptation are compelling enough to watch.

Source: The Independent