Your book is finally on the screen.
How does it feel?
Not that its a strictly accurate question, because my book isnt really on the screen, is it?
Its on Amazon and iTunes.
And the characters living within its pages arent going anywhere.
Did I think the story would make it to the screen?
I certainly hoped it would.
This wasnt just a timeless story.
It was one populated by timeless and intrinsically compelling characters.
Harry Price was an enigma.
But he was brilliant and ambitious; selfish and unreliable; elusive but charming.
In my novel, when we meet Sarah shes a drifter, lost in many ways.
For a long time we heard nothing.
In fact, by the beginning of the year I was convinced it would never happen.
The actor splendidly cast in the title role isRafe Spall.
We shared a moment.
Their names even appear next to each other on the school website of notable alumni!
I wonder: what are the chances?
I think: Im lucky.
This moment is special.
Some authors wait their whole career for this.
Are you worried they have deviated from your plot?
I have been asked.
As the author of the original work you hope the screen adaptation will reflect some of your ideas.
However, as anyone in the business will attest, transforming a book into a script is not easy.
Often there are tremendous and necessary differences; characters and plotlines are dropped and combined.
Theres nothing wrong with deviation if the original material is honoured.
How do I feel about this drama to which my name will be permanently attached?
Is the production as I envisaged?
Does it meet my approval?
Reading the script felt very different to reading my book.
Plotlines had been dropped, new characters introduced.
And thats entirely normal in the adaptation process.
The story world I created is right here, in front of me.
No longer in my readers heads or just existing on the page, but inhabited by my characters.
No doubt the essence ofThe Ghost Huntershas been faithfully preserved in this adaptation.
This drama is loyal to the spirit of my work, and Im delighted.
I cant help thinking the showman in the real Harry Price would approve of this idea.
Id written this book imagining it as a screenplay.
Still, nothing could have prepared me for the bidding war that followed.
My agent in LA would call with updates very few days.
First we had two offers, then three, four…
The deal went to an eight-way auction and the rights eventually sold to DNA Films and TV.
It was a hard decision to make, and not just a financial one.
Some characters just wont let you rest.
And like the spirits they investigate, Harry Price and Sarah Grey seem to be some of them.
Neil Spring is the author ofThe Ghost HuntersandThe Watchers, published by Quercus.
