Where are the new ideas? Adaptations of books are sweeping cinema and series

BarcelonaLast weekend, three of the five highest-grossing films were literary adaptations: Wuthering Heights(which grossed 1.82 million euros in Spain), Hamnet (565,000 euros), and The Assistant (467,000 euros). On Netflix, the streaming platform with the most subscribers, the list of the most-watched English-language series globally in the week of February 9-15 also includes several versions of books: Bridgerton, The Lincoln Lawyer and She and Her. This week, two of the notable premieres are precisely literary adaptations: the erotic thriller 56 Days and the latest season of Like Water for Chocolate, a version of the novel by Mexican author Laura Esquivel that was also adapted for the big screen at the time. Literary adaptations are not new in cinema or television, but they have rarely been so omnipresent to the point that one has to wonder where all the new or original ideas have gone.

The fever for literary adaptations is not limited to cinema or television; it has also made its presence felt in theater. In the case of the Catalan stage, the 2025-2026 season has been and will be marked by different adaptations such as Absalon, Absalon!, by William Faulkner, which can be seen at the TNC; La mort i la primavera (Death and Spring), by Mercè Rodoreda, also programmed by the TNC; and The Master and Margarita, which was performed at the Teatre Lliure.

"They are not just adaptations of books, but they are also taking what are called intellectual properties (IP) from everything possible, whether it's a novel, a video game, or real cases. There is so much competition between platforms to capture the viewer that more value needs to be added to the projects being made. Before, a screenwriter would give an idea and that was enough, but now you have to add value to stand out from other series. If you join things that are already famous, you drag the target audience of the novel, the video game, or whatever it may be," explains screenwriter Marta Grau Rafel. She details that often when screenwriters try to sell an original idea to a production company, they encounter more reluctance because they don't start with a potential audience group that will surely watch the series or film.

This trend has made original ideas more residual, but Grau Rafel recalls that, after all, screenwriters are also responsible for making adaptations. However, she admits that the situation is "frustrating" because there are fewer opportunities to develop her own ideas, which is why screenwriters often end up writing books. Jordi Frades, deputy general director of Diagonal TV, a production company that has adapted novels like The Cathedral of the Sea or The Gypsy Bride, agrees with Grau Rafel's diagnosis and assures that he has also noticed that many screenwriters have made the leap to the literary world.

Frades details that the publishing industry itself has realized the market niche that audiovisual adaptations represent, and in many cases, they directly offer their books to production companies. "When selling a project to a platform, with a book, you start with an existing plot, and this means that everything is already much more detailed than with an original idea for which you have a ten-page synopsis," he adds. "With an original idea, the potential success is not tested," says Frades, who highlights cases like The Assistant, a winning horse after selling copies in droves. One of the latest adaptations Diagonal TV has participated in is the transformation into a series of two novels by the bestselling romantic author bestseller Megan Maxwell, Tampoco pido tanto and ¿A qué estás esperando? (the latter title gives its name to the series).

The deputy general director of Diagonal TV assures that the industry is currently at the zenith of literary adaptations due to high production demand. "There is so much need for production because there are so many platforms that novels often come first," he notes. Screenwriter and author Carmen Fernández Villalba recalls that she once presented a series project to a producer, and he told her that he liked it a lot, but that if it were a book, "he would buy it immediately." "He suggested that I write it as a book first. If I brought him the book first, the series project would have more guarantees. If it has already been published, it has passed another stage," explains this member of the board of Guionistes Associats de Catalunya. She also points out that in this whole panorama, there is also a question of status: "Whoever publishes a book already has the status of a writer and already has authorship. It seems that screenwriters, who have been invisible for so many years, do not carry as much weight as an author who publishes a book.

Market niche and feedback

Fernández Villalba assures that the publishing world and the audiovisual industry are no longer watertight compartments but rather have many communicating vessels. Anna Soler-Pont detected this market niche and in 1992 founded the Pontas agency, which, among other things, manages adaptation rights for various authors. "When we started, 10% of audiovisual productions came from the world of books, and right now, globally, it's around 40%," says Soler-Pont. In fact, this March she will go to the London Book Fair, and half of her appointments are with producers and platform executives. The Pontas agency has been key to the screen adaptation of books such as Countdown: The Story of Salvador Puig Antich, which served as the basis for Salvador, which won the Goya for best adapted screenplay; Rastres de sàndal (Sandalwood Traces), co-written by Soler-Pont herself, or a Cel de plom (Lead Sky).

One of the latest rights they have managed are those for the novel L'últim vaixell (The Last Ship), by Domingo Villar, which will be a series titled Caldas. She assures that both the publisher that published the book in Catalan, Columna, and the one that published it in Spanish, Siruela, already anticipate that there will be a surge in sales of the novel when the series is released. In this regard, Soler-Pont indicates that when an adaptation is made, a feedback process occurs. A paradigmatic case is that of Hamnet: following the release of the film, sales of Maggie O'Farrell's novel, originally published in 2021, have experienced a resurgence. In the case of the Catalan version, L’Altra Editorial has sold more than 3,000 copies in a month and a half, and already predicts that it may be one of the most requested books for Sant Jordi.

Soler-Pont recalls that a television or film script is a piece of craftsmanship and that people are now beginning to understand that when they see an adaptation, they don't have to follow the book it's based on to the letter. "I always tell our clients (the authors) that if they are not willing to face betrayal and a radical change of their story, they should not sell the rights. The copyright of an audiovisual work belongs to the producers, the network, or the platform, but not to the author, unless they become a co-producer," she reflects.

The link with the BookTok phenomenon

One of the reasons behind the rise of literary adaptations is the phenomenon of BookTokers, the influencersof books who are successful on TikTok since mid-2020. Their recommendations, made in a more direct, entertaining, and playful way than conventional reviews, attract readers. The books they talk about often become popular and viral, two elements that can attract production companies and platforms, always looking for products or intellectual properties that already have the momentum of a large fan base. Normally, BookTokers focus on young adult fiction (young adults), romantic novels, fantasy, and thrillers. Series like Heartstopper, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder or The Summer I Turned Pretty owe their existence to the BookTok phenomenon. One of the most anticipated Prime Video premieres this year for young audiences is Off Campus, an adaptation of a saga of romantic novels starring hockey players from an American university. The first season arrives in May, and the second has already been greenlit.

Before BookTokers paved the way for the audiovisual industry, in the United States there was another figure who realized the lucrative market of uniting literature, series, and cinema. Actress and producer Reese Witherspoon, who made the leap to production when she couldn't find interesting roles for her age, founded a book club that has helped her identify books that could be transformed into good audiovisual material. Many of the series and films she has produced through her company, Hello Sunshine, are adaptations of books she previously chose for her book club. This list includes series such as Daisy Jones & The Six, Little Fires Everywhere, Tiny Beautiful Things, The Last Thing He Told Me and Zero Day and films like Where the Crawdads Sing. Witherspoon's future projects as a producer also include a string of adaptations: from Romantic Comedy (VR Europe), a book by Curtis Sittenfeld, to The Nightingale (Amsterdam), by Kristin Hannah, to Run, Rose, Run, co-written by Dolly Parton and James Patterson.

Both screenwriters, production companies, and publishers do not foresee the bubble bursting. "I don't think it will decrease, quite the opposite, because it is an increasingly competitive sector," concludes Grau Rafel, who points to a new derivative of this phenomenon, the intersection with artificial intelligence. "We have to see where it takes us, but in the face of a novel that is already done, an artificial intelligence can adapt it. If we don't fight against this, it will be easier than finding a screenwriter who brings you an original idea," she warns.