Interview with a Zambian screenwriter on adapting novels for the screen

Cameras turn the architecture of a novel into time, light and performance. In this conversation with a Zambian screenwriter based in Lusaka, that conversion is treated as both a craft problem and a cultural negotiation. The discussion sits within the development work of Vilole Images Productions, where stories are shaped for audiences beyond the page.

The screenwriter’s central point is that an adaptation should not behave like a transcript with scenery added. A faithful book and a successful film may tell the same story through different engines: inward narration can become action, remembered events can become present-day consequences, and a lyrical passage may become a recurring motif rather than spoken explanation.

Questions about fidelity often miss the writer’s practical concern: what can a camera, an actor and an editor actually communicate? The strongest drafts preserve the source’s emotional logic while changing its storytelling mechanism. That means choosing decisive images, clarifying character objectives and accepting that silence, timing and reaction can carry meaning that paragraphs once carried alone.

For Australian readers, the conversation offers a useful perspective on adaptation in a multilingual production environment. It also shows why international collaboration benefits from early translation of intent, not just language: visual grammar, performance style, humour and silence travel differently across cultures and must be tested with the intended audience.

What changes when a novel becomes a screenplay

The screenwriter describes adaptation as a series of losses and gains. Details are lost because a production has limits; other details gain force because they can be seen and heard. The goal is not to preserve every event, but to preserve why the events matter to the characters.

A screenplay therefore needs a different narrative spine. It must show what people want, what stands in their way and what the choices cost. Exposition should emerge through conflict where possible, while the writer tracks the tension between the novel’s stated intention and the behaviour of its central characters.

The main creative shifts look like this:

Finding the film inside the manuscript

Asked where the process begins, the answer is not the opening scene. It begins with a dramatic question: what is the protagonist trying to obtain, protect or escape? That question becomes the adaptation’s organising idea. The writer then maps the novel’s major events, identifies the essential relationships and tests whether the story can sustain a feature film, a limited series or another format.

Character interiors require particular attention. A novel may spend pages describing guilt, doubt or ambition; the screenwriter converts those states into choices. Each important character receives an active want, a credible need and an obstacle that can be encountered on screen. A story editor or development partner then challenges scenes that merely repeat information without changing the balance of power between characters.

Voice matters just as much. The adaptation should retain the source’s distinct verbal rhythm while allowing actors space to breathe. Descriptions of weather, status or memory can become action, sound or visual contrast. The writer also looks for motifs that can recur without becoming heavy-handed, and for an ending whose meaning is carried by the final image rather than an explanatory speech.

Turning cultural truth into a workable production

A Zambian setting is not simply a backdrop. The screenwriter treats Lusaka’s streets, homes, workplaces, markets and surrounding landscapes as forces that shape behaviour. Family obligation, community judgement, religion, work and the pressure to belong can drive conflict as strongly as an individual villain. A faithful adaptation keeps those pressures visible and lets the world alter the characters’ choices.

Specificity also requires discipline. Research should go beyond visible landmarks to establish how time, money, transport, hierarchy and communication operate in a scene. Cultural details need context, not decoration. If the script moves between urban and rural spaces or between generations, those changes should affect pace, humour and the way people speak to one another.

A screenplay must then fit production reality. The writer works with producers to identify locations, resources and safety limits before making irreversible story decisions. A scene may need to be combined, simplified or relocated while its dramatic function remains intact. This is not an argument for sanding away cultural truth; it is an argument for finding a form strong enough to survive those constraints.

A practical adaptation workflow

• Secure the option or licence chain before attaching a full screenplay to a project.
• Write a one-page adaptation thesis naming the central question, audience and intended format.
• Build a beat map of major events, turning points and subplots, then mark what must be cut.
• Give every central character an objective, an obstacle and an observable arc.
• Convert exposition into behaviour, dialogue, subtext, props or changes in the environment.
• Match locations and resources to the dramatic design before finalising scenes.
• Test the script through editorial review and a table read, then prepare the shooting script.

The order matters. Rights clarity protects the project, story design protects the adaptation, and production planning protects the schedule. Each stage should resolve uncertainty rather than merely add more pages to the package.

What Australian producers can learn from this process

Australian screen production is strongly connected to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, with experienced crews, studios and post-production facilities in each city. Screen Australia supports screen development and production, while agencies such as Screen NSW, Film Victoria, ScreenSA and Screen Queensland help projects connect with regional communities and local expertise. For a Zambian adaptation, those networks could matter when securing finance, co-production partners and production services without losing the original creative voice.

Everyday viewing habits also matter. Many Australian viewers encounter short-form video and news on a phone during a train or bus commute, often wearing headphones, then move to longer evening viewing at home. Commercial cinema remains important for major releases, family outings and festival discoveries, while subscription streaming and on-demand services give international dramas a route between theatrical windows. A screenplay entering this market needs a clear hook, accessible world-building and performances that register on both a small screen and a cinema screen.

Two legal realities belong in the earliest paperwork. The Copyright Act 1968 means that the right to adapt a novel cannot be assumed from access to a manuscript; the chain of title should identify the author, option holder and proposed licensee. Films intended for commercial exhibition are also classified in Australia through the Australian Classification Board, so themes, language and depictions need review before a distributor positions the finished work. Early legal and classification checks can prevent late changes that damage character arcs or marketing plans.

Bring the next story into production

If you hold the rights to a Zambian novel, or you are producing material that could grow from one, approach Vilole Images Productions with a concise synopsis, an intended audience and a proposed format. A clear story question, a workable rights position and an honest production budget provide a sound basis for a development conversation focused on both fidelity and filmability.

For completed work, the SHUNAFFoZ festival welcomes documentaries, short films and feature-length films from filmmakers. Share the strongest version of the story, preserve its cultural specificity and give audiences a reason to care about what changes when a private world becomes a collective screen experience.