James Cameron reads Trek?

[F. King Daniel]

Here's the link: http://www.trektoday.com/content/2010/08/cameron-competing-with-trek/

Talking about the forthcoming Avatar companion novel:

It will also be the bible for any future publication, a look-up guide for future writers who can come in and work within the world…. Think about all the Star Trek novels and how they contradicted each other for a few years and it made it tricky to be a Trekkie for a while.

Who'da thunk it? James didn't like the Richard Arnold era, either!

 

[Csalem]

I'd imagine he has a lot of free time since he only needs to make the most successful of all time once every decade.

 

[Dick Whitman]

In the new issue of Entertainment Weekly Cameron is defensive when he was asked if this was a novelization. He replies - not exact quote - "No a novelization is when the studio hires a HACK WRITER to turned your movie into a book" Can't remember the exact writing but he definitely used that that capitalized term!

EDIT - Ok I looked it up....

http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/08/16/james-cameron-avatar-hurt-locker-3d/

What’s this we hear about you writing a novelization of Avatar?
I hate that term. A novelization is when the merchandising department hires a hack writer for $15,000 to adapt my script. This is the novel.

So what do all the writer's here think of that....
Seems very arrogant to me!

 

[Xenu Cruise]

But the "novel" he is writing is just the same story as the movie? What is the term for somebody who is hired to turn your already written screenplay into a novel?

 

[F. King Daniel]

Aren't the novelizations written by many of the same people who, in the case of Star Trek, write the original novels which he implied he is or was a fan of?

I think he was talking out his ass in the latter quote. Novelizations nowadays are very tightly controlled - I vaguely recall Alan Dean Foster saying that several original tidbits he added were cut from his STXI novelization because TPTB didn't want him deviating from the film script (or mismash of early script and final, in this case). It's not ADF's fault the novel is a straightforward retelling of the film without added depth - he wasn't given a choice in the matter.

I understand if Cameron wanted to say "this is much more than the Avatar script adapted", but he did it in a deeply shitty way.

 

[captcalhoun]

some people regard tie-in fiction as 'hack writing' regardless of whether it's a novelisation or an original story, so i imagine the writers around here have a thick skin about it.

 

[scnj]

So what do all the writer's here think of that....
Seems very arrogant to me!

Sounds kind of dickish. Some novelizations are very well written.

 

[Therin of Andor]

some people regard tie-in fiction as 'hack writing' regardless of whether it's a novelisation or an original story

I always liked how Gene Roddenberry's novelization was titled "Star Trek: The Motion Picture: A Novel".

I was also amused by the ST fans who complained about Vonda N McIntyre's ST II and ST III novelizations because she "added too much of her own material".

 

[Steve Roby]

Good ol' James Cameron, the guy bright enough to admit in an interview that Terminator was a ripoff of Harlan Ellison's Outer Limits episodes. Tell us more about hacks, Jimmy.

 

[JD]

So what do all the writer's here think of that....
Seems very arrogant to me!

Sounds kind of dickish. Some novelizations are very well written.

I'm with you on this one. I don't understand that kind of mentality when it comes to written novelizations and tie-ins. I actually find it more impressive when someone can accurate use characters and content created by someone else, that fits in seamlessly with the other person/people's material.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I'd laugh if he can't find any writers willing to write the tie-ins that he now says he wants Avatar to have...

 

[JD]

^Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if those comments pissed a few people off.

 

[Greg Cox]

I'd laugh if he can't find any writers willing to write the tie-ins that he now says he wants Avatar to have...

Oh, I doubt that any of us would turn down a chance to write an AVATAR novel if offered the chance . . . .

 

[Corran Horn]

I'd laugh if he can't find any writers willing to write the tie-ins that he now says he wants Avatar to have...

They'll line up. Are you kidding?

 

[Lonemagpie]

I'd laugh if he can't find any writers willing to write the tie-ins that he now says he wants Avatar to have...

They'll line up. Are you kidding?

I said I'd laugh, I didn't say it was actually possible.

 

[kes7]

Okay. So we have novelizations of screenplays, normally done by tie-in authors.

Who usually does the screen adaptation of successful original novels? Just out of curiosity.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Better paid hacks.

 

[Stevil2001]

Okay. So we have novelizations of screenplays, normally done by tie-in authors.

Who usually does the screen adaptation of successful original novels? Just out of curiosity.

To be fair, novelizing a screenplay often involves less creative thought than screenplaying a novel. Which I think is a shame, but it seems to be the way things are: novelizers are given little-to-no room to change things, whereas screenwriters often change everything.

 

[Christopher]

To be fair, novelizing a screenplay often involves less creative thought than screenplaying a novel.

Says who? A beat-for-beat adaptation of a screenplay won't fill out a full novel, unless it's very short. A novelizer generally has to invent a fair amount of additional material.

 

[Stevil2001]

I have yet to read a single novelization given the level of artistic freedom afforded your most basic film adaptation. I don't think that it can be argued that adding material is much different from wholesale alteration.