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Book-to-screen adaptations we’d love to see

This World Television Day, we’re exploring some Scribe books that have — or could — come to life beautifully on the silver screen. The day was created to recognise television as a symbol for communication and globalisation in our modern world, acknowledging the growing impact and significance of television in our lives today. 

Read on to find out more about one of our books that has already been adapted, one that is in the process of adaptation, and two that we think would make fantastic viewing if they were picked up.

Tokyo Vice

Our first entry is one that has recently been adapted for TV: Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein. Based on Jake’s own experiences, Tokyo Vice gives vivid, visceral descriptions of crime in Japan while following his transformation from inexperienced cub reporter to a daring investigative journalist with a price on his head. Diving into Jake’s life in Japan, the book offers a revelatory look at Japanese culture from the underbelly up.

With its visceral descriptions and gritty crime reportage, this book was perfect for adaptation. 

Called a ‘seductive slice of neon noir’, the critically-acclaimed first season of the Tokyo Vice series was released in 2022 on Paramount+, starring Ansel Elgort, Rachel Keller, and Ken Watanabe.

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Come as You Are

Another Scribe title that is up for adaptation is Emily Nagoski’s Come As You Are. Come As You Are is an essential exploration of women’s sexuality that will radically transform your sex life into one filled with confidence and joy. The book debunks common sexual myths and reveals the true story behind female sexuality.

With a workbook companion and a newly launched podcast adaptation, the book’s evergreen subject matter has also been acquired for a screen adaptation.

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The Animators

Kayla Rae Whittaker’s debut novel The Animators is our first pick for a book that could be made into a spectacular series. The book follows two women in art class at a private East Coast college, who then go on to become an award-winning animation duo. But with success comes self-doubt, which is when cracks start to form in their relationship. Funny and heartbreaking by turn, The Animators is a dazzling story of female friendship, the cost of a creative life, and the secrets that can undo us — all of which could be so expertly examined even more in a show.

There is so much potential for mixed media experimentation and visual story-telling through the girls’ animation work — would you watch it?

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The Picture Bride

In the similar vein as the recent Apple TV adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, we think that Lee Geum-Yi’s The Picture Bride would make a gorgeous, sweeping show with its distinct settings in Korea, Japan, and Hawai’i across the early twentieth century.

Opening in the early 1910s, The Picture Bride follows three young Korean women who accept marriage proposals from men in Hawai’i based only off one photograph each. But after making the journey, Hongju, Willow, and Songhwa find out that real life doesn’t always resemble a picture — even if there’s no going back. 

With richly ‘transporting and immersive’ (Heather Morris) settings, the story’s broad cast of characters and exploration of a little-known period of history has enormous potential to draw in viewers. 

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The Animators

Kayla Rae Whitaker

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Tokyo Vice

Jake Adelstein

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Come as You Are

Emily Nagoski

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The Picture Bride

Lee Geum-yi

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