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This entry is trivia, which is cool and all, but not a trope. On a work, it goes on the Trivia tab.

Self-Adaptation
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Self-Adaptation (trope)
If you want something done right, You Gotta Do It Yourself!

"And somehow, almost in conversation, it began to become clear that it might be a good idea if I did it myself—at least the director wouldn’t have to keep wondering what the author meant. It just seemed that I’d be the only person who could treat the play with the necessary disrespect."
— Tom Stoppard on why he directed the movie adaptation of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

So, you made a thing, and that thing is popular. Suddenly, folks are hounding you to adapt it into a film, TV series, or whatever that they can make money from. And while you like the idea, you're more than a bit worried about Adaptation Decay, and not entirely sure you can trust the execs with your masterpiece.

So what do you do? Well, usually you'd have little choice in the matter outside what company you give permission to tamper with your work, after which they'll decide just how much they want you involved. But by some random miracle, you've got quite a bit more leverage than that or said company is surprisingly open to your suggestions. In which case, why do you need someone else to write the adaptation? You're a versatile person, how hard could making the adaptation be? You know what bits are important and what can be cut, and how to make sure your favorite bits stay in. Or perhaps add, alter, or remove parts that you have missed or were unsatisfied with. So you write it yourself.

These are the results.

Compare Copiously Credited Creator, Directed by Cast Member, Written by Cast Member, Creator Cameo, and Self-Remake. For examples of a creator personally acting in their own work, see Descended Creator.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime and Manga 

    Comic Books 
  • David Brin wrote The Life Eaters graphic novel based on his "Thor Meets Captain America" short story.
  • Terry Pratchett wrote the script of Mort: The Big Comic, including adding a bit about a bitter old man leaving all his money to the cat which also appeared in Soul Music the same year. (This doesn't apply to other Discworld graphic novels: The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic were adapted by Scott Rockwell; Guards! Guards! was based on the Stephen Briggs playscript, and Small Gods was adapted by the artist, Ray Friesen.)
  • Jean Van Hamme wrote Largo Winch based on the novels he wrote in the '70s, the first 5 arcs being straight adaptations of the novels before moving to original stories. Nowadays, the novels have all but faded into obscurity.
  • Franchise creator Shea Fontana wrote every graphic novel tie-in for the 2015 DC Super Hero Girls continuity (though the final chapter of the last graphic novel tie-in, Spaced Out, which served as a sneak peek for the next continuity, was instead written by Sholly Fisch).
  • Yuval Noah Harari co-wrote the Franco-Belgian Comics series Sapiens: A Graphic History with David Vandermeulen based on his book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind.

    Films — Animation 

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Emma Donoghue wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of her novel Room.
  • French filmmaker/author Bertrand Blier wrote the novel Beau-père and adapted it on film in 1981.
  • French author and filmmaker José Giovanni wrote L'Excommunié and directed its 1972 film adaptation, La Scoumoune. The film is actually The Remake of the 1961 Jean Becker film Un nommé La Rocca, which already adapted the novel. Despite the fact Giovanni also wrote that 1961 film, he wasn't satisfied with it and decided to re-adapt it to the screen himself.
  • Clive Barker has written and directed several films based on his stories, such as Hellraiser (based on his novella The Hellbound Heart), Lord of Illusions (based on his short story "The Last Illusion"), and Nightbreed (based on his novel Cabal).
  • William Goldman had experience writing for film, and so adapted The Princess Bride himself, removing many of the (admittedly unfilmable) metatextual elements of his own accord and shifting the focus towards the fairy-tale parody angle, retaining the editor's notes about the story being read to him as a child as a different Framing Device. He also adapted Marathon Man and Magic (1978) from his own novels.
  • Ayn Rand wrote the screenplay for the adaptation of The Fountainhead, and had significant say in the creative process. Among other things, she absolutely insisted that Howard Roark's climactic monologue at the end of the film be reproduced from the novel in its entirety; it ended up being one of the longest monologues in cinematic history.
  • Robert Bloch wrote the scripts for Asylum (1972 Horror), The House That Dripped Blood and Torture Garden anthologies with the segments being based on his short stories. He also wrote and directed "The Mannikin" segment of Three Dangerous Ladies, based on his short story of the same name.
  • During the filming of To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee used to come every day to the set but stopped after three weeks because by then she knew the movie would be fine without her.
  • Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola worked very closely to adapt Puzo's The Godfather and build together the new storylines of the sequels.
  • Nicholas Pileggi served as Martin Scorsese's co-writer in two adaptations of his books, GoodFellas (based on Wiseguy) and Casino.
  • Frank Miller was a co-director on Sin City, as Robert Rodriguez felt that being such a direct adaptation of the original comics (the visual compositions usually being directly lifted from the panels) meant that most of his directorial work had already been done for him by the creator and he wanted a first-hand reference for the unspoken thoughts of the characters, which only Miller could provide. This was unprecedented as Hollywood is not keen on co-directors like this, so Rodriquez resigned from the directors union to make the film because he was that committed to the project.
  • Rómulo Gallegos was invited to work as the scriptwriter for the 1947 movie adaptation of his novel, Doña Barbara.
  • Stephen King made the movie Maximum Overdrive, loosely based on his own short story "Trucks" from Night Shift. He even released a trailer in which he directly addressed the viewer, boasting that if you want something done right, you've gotta do it yourself. It's the only movie based on his stories that he personally directed; however, its reception was pretty negative, an opinion King himself later agreed with. By his own admission, he was letting his cocaine habit do most of the actual work during filming, and boy does it show.
  • George A. Romero wrote and directed Martin (1977), then novelized it with Susan Sparrow, who helped him adapt Dawn of the Dead (1978).
  • Tom Stoppard wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of his play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and ended up directing it as well. Rather than seeking to keep everything the same, he had no hesitation about making substantial changes, adding new bits to take advantage of the new medium, and cutting out bits that no longer worked. He said in an interview that part of the reason he took the director's chair was that it "just seemed that I'd be the only person who could treat the play with the necessary disrespect."
  • Chris Roberts, creator of Wing Commander, wrote the story for and directed the movie.
  • Suzanne Collins, author of the Hunger Games book series, wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of the first installment and executive produced the rest of the films.
  • The Perks of Being a Wallflower was written and directed by Stephen Chbosky, who wrote the original novel.
  • William Peter Blatty produced and wrote The Exorcist, which was based on his novel of the same name. More directly, he directed The Exorcist III, based on his novel sequel Legion, at least in part out of his disdain for Exorcist II: The Heretic. Blatty also wrote, directed, and produced The Ninth Configuration based on his book of the same name.
  • Gillian Flynn wrote the film adaptation of Gone Girl.
  • Holes: After Richard Kelly's screenplay for the film was rejected due to being an In Name Only adaptation set in a post-apocalyptic world, original author Louis Sachar wrote the final screenplay himself, keeping the film very faithful to the book.
  • Jordan Mechner, the creator of the Prince of Persia franchise, was the screenwriter for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, doing the first two drafts of the script, and was on set during the filming. He is credited with writing the story.
  • An In-Universe example happens in Saving Mr. Banks, where P.L. Travers is given unprecedented creative control over the production of Mary Poppins by Walt Disney. Interestingly, this was the case in the actual production as well, though Travers was unhappy with the result.
  • Ernest Cline co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of his book, Ready Player One.
  • Ed Wood directed Necromania, based on his own novel, The Only House.
  • Enki Bilal wrote and directed Immortal (2004) based on The Carnival of Immortals comics he wrote.
  • Takashi Shimizu directed Ju-on and its American remake, The Grudge. He directed The Grudge 2 and was an executive producer on The Grudge 3.
  • Thea von Harbou wrote the screenplay for Metropolis, which was based on her book of the same name.
  • Astrid Lindgren was deeply involved in writing scripts for films based on her novels. This came about after she famously disowned the 1949 film adaptation of Pippi Longstocking.
  • Famously played with with Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, an adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factorynote . Although the screenplay is credited to Roald Dahl, much of his script was altered by ghostwriters, which included the addition of the "gobstopper test" in order to give the movie a villain (Slugworth) and a moral. He hated what had been done to his script so much that he (allegedly) stated in his will that the book's sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, would never be adapted into a movie.
  • Michael Haneke directed the original Austrian Funny Games and its English language Shot-for-Shot Remake.
  • Hans Petter Moland directed both In Order of Disappearance and its American remake Cold Pursuit.
  • Joseph Kosinski directed Oblivion (2013), which was based on an unpublished comic book he created himself.
  • David Rook wrote The White Colt in 1967, then wrote the screenplay for its 1969 film adaptation, Run Wild, Run Free.
  • Jonathan Evison co-wrote the screenplay of The Fundamentals of Caring, which was based on his book.
  • Sam Raimi co-wrote and directed Darkman based on a short story that he wrote.
  • Peter Shaffer who wrote the play Amadeus made a screenplay of its film adaptation
  • Greg Rucka wrote the comic The Old Guard and the first screenplay and final rewrites for the film adaptation.
  • Peter Benchley wrote both the novel and the screenplay for The Island (1980). Benchley also wrote the first drafts of the Jaws 1 script, being one of the two credited screenwriters.
  • Joe Ballarini wrote A Babysitter's Guide To Monster Hunting based on his trilogy of books.
  • Woody Allen adapted Play It Again, Sam from his play, while Shadows and Fog was based on his one-act play Death, which appears in the short story anthology book Without Feathers.
  • Ingmar Bergman adapted The Seventh Seal from his own play Wood Parting.
  • Dalton Trumbo directed only one film, an adaptation of his novel, Johnny Got His Gun.
  • Hannibal Rising had its script written by the book's author, Thomas Harris (who is also the one narrating the audiobook version).
  • Michael Crichton was a co-writer in both Jurassic Park (1993) and Rising Sun (1993).
    • The studio also brought Crichton late in the production of The 13th Warrior to effectively direct an alternate cut of the film without firing the official director, John McTiernan, which was then chosen for release over McTiernan's. Rather ironically, Crichton's cut was more "hollywoodized" and less faithful to his own novel than McTiernan, with a Hotter and Sexier "Mother" of the Wendol (at Crichton's suggestion) and a final duel between Buliwyf and the Wendol chief.
  • Kevin Jakubowski wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of his book 8-Bit Christmas.
  • Florian Zeller directed and co-wrote a film adaptation of his own play, The Father.
  • Ernest Thompson wrote the film adaptation of his own play, On Golden Pond.
  • Aaron Sorkin wrote A Few Good Men from his 1989 play of the same name.
  • Robert Stone, author of the novel Dog Soldiers, co wrote the screenplay for its adaptation, Who'll Stop the Rain.
  • Steven Levenson, who wrote the book of Dear Evan Hansen, also wrote the screenplay of the film adaptation.
  • Michael Mann first became famous as the Show Runner on Miami Vice, which he parlayed into a career directing slick, modern crime thrillers like Manhunter, Heat, and Collateral. Naturally, when the film adaptation of Miami Vice went into production, he was the logical choice to direct it.
  • Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters was the creative director for The Wall, which was heavily based on his personal experiences as a musician with a troubled upbringing. When the album was adapted into a film in 1982, Waters wrote the screenplay for it.
  • Jagged Mind: Allyson Morgan, who wrote the short film First Date which this is based on (part of Bite Size Halloween, a Hulu horror series) also did this.
  • Mr. Blake at Your Service! is based on director Gilles Legardinier's own 2012 novel.
  • Shamim Sarif first wrote the books I Can't Think Straight and then The World Unseen. Later she directed and also wrote the screenplays for the films based on them.
  • Mike Mignola co-wrote the screenplay for Hellboy: The Crooked Man based on his own The Crooked Man mini-series that's part of his Hellboy comics.
  • A Thousand Clowns was adapted for the screen by the play's author, Herb Gardner.
  • Animal Crackers has a screenplay by Morrie Ryskind, a coauthor of the original stage musical.
  • The Taiwanese film You Are the Apple of My Eye is based on the semi-autobiographical novel The Girl We Chased Together in Those Years by Giddens Ko, who wrote and directed the film.
  • Show Boat: The 1936 film of the musical has an adapted screenplay by Oscar Hammerstein II, who also wrote several Movie Bonus Songs with Jerome Kern.
  • The Turkish Gambit was co-written by the author of the original novel Boris Akunin.

    Literature 

    Live-Action TV 

    Pinball 

    Theatre 

    Video Games 

    Web Video 
  • Chance Calloway, the creator of Pretty Dudes, was an author before he created the show, so he adapted his own scripts into prose for the novelization. The book was published under his pen name C.S.R. Calloway.

    Western Animation 
  • The scripts for the Peanuts specials, more often than not, would simply be ripped directly from the comic strips with minimal changes, so Charles Schulz was the lead writer by default. But Schulz had a lot of creative control, often writing any additional material as well, and many of the specials' trademarks — the jazz score, the casting of children, and the simplistic animation style — were his decisions.
  • Aaron McGruder, creator of The Boondocks comic series, also created the animated series based on them, and wrote every single episode of the first three seasons (though he was totally absent during the fourth and final season).
  • Scott Adams, creator of the long-running comic strip Dilbert, developed the animated series with Seinfeld producer Larry Charles and also co-wrote a majority of the episodes' scripts.
  • Cece Bell, the author of El Deafo, worked on the Animated Miniseries of the same name as an executive producer, writer, and narrator.
  • Jim Davis scripted all the Garfield TV specials that aired in the 1980s and early 1990s. It wasn't until Garfield and Friends that he allowed others to write his characters.
  • Winsor McCay directed cartoons based on comics that he wrote and drew like Dream of the Rarebit Fiend and Little Nemo.
  • A Doonesbury Special, based on the newspaper strip, was co-directed and co-written by creator Garry Trudeau.
  • Luke Pearson is the showrunner of Hilda which is based on his own graphic novels. He also wrote several episodes, including "The Deerfox", "The Storm", "The Windmill", "The Train to Tofoten", "The Fairy Mound", and "The Fairy Isle".
  • Michael Rex, author of Fangbone! Third Grade Barbarian, helped out a lot with developing the Fangbone! Animated Adaptation, even doing some of the show's concept art. He also received executive producer credit, overseeing the series' development and scriptwriting. His own blog even talks quite a bit about his work on the cartoon.
  • Do Not Watch This Show was based on a children's book written by series creator Andy Lee, who produced the adaptation through his own studio, Lee Bones Productions, and was a producer for the series.
  • Invincible (2021) is co-created by the creator of the original comic, Robert Kirkman.
  • The Legend of Vox Machina: Sam Riegel, Travis Willingham, Marisha Ray, and Liam O'Brien, four of the creators/players of Critical Role: Campaign One, co-wrote the episodes "Scanbo", "Test of Pride", "A Deadly Bargain", "Hell to Pay", "The Coming Storm", "Cloak and Dagger", and "Souls in Darkness".
  • Many of Nelvana's Animated Adaptations qualify, particularly those created for PBS Kids' Bookworm Bunch block.
    • Maggie and the Ferocious Beast was based on a book by authors Michael and Betty Paraskevas, who were very involved in the show's production, even writing many of the episodes. The same applies with their more obscure Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse, which the Paraskevas worked on as executive producers.
    • Both of Maurice Sendak's Nelvana-adapted series, Little Bear and Seven Little Monsters, also saw him brought on board to help with the show's production, and he was heavily involved in the development process, receiving executive producer credit. He even supervised the artwork done for the former show.
    • Rosemary Wells, author and illustrator of Max & Ruby, Timothy Goes to School, and the Yoko & Friends series, worked closely with Nelvana on the Timothy Goes to School and Max and Ruby cartoons, overseeing production for both shows and helped writing scripts for both shows.
    • Rolie Polie Olie and George Shrinks were both based on books written and illustrated by William Joyce, who also worked very heavily on the series' development processes, including designing much of the early concept art (he even won a Special Emmy for Outstanding Production Design on Rolie Polie Olie in 1999) and overseeing the shows' scriptwriting as an executive producer.
    • Downplayed with the 2002 The Berenstain Bears series, since original authors Jan and Stan Berenstain's involvement in the program was limited, but they sought to exert their influence on some details, like the bears never wear shoes, and Papa never wearing his hat in the house.
  • Tara Duncan's 2021 animated series was produced by Princess Sam Pictures, whose CEO is Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian, author of the books.
  • The Cramp Twins was written by Brian Wood, based on his graphic novel of the same name.
  • The Cuphead Show! is co-created and produced by Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, co-creators of the original game.
  • Tad Hills, author and illustrator of the original Duck & Goose picture book series, was the Executive Producer for the 2022 Apple TV+ preschool series of the same name.
  • While Dr. Seuss was mostly hands off with a majority of animated specials based off his books during his lifetime, he was able to contribute to Chuck Jones' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! from 1966, where he wrote the lyrics for "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" and co-wrote "Welcome Christmas" which both became staples in future adaptations of the original story.
  • Judith Viorist, author of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, wrote the screenplay and lyrics to HBO Storybook Musicals musical adaptation from 1990.
  • The Goldie (2025) TV series is developed by Emily Brundige, who also created the original short the show is based on.
  • Starting with season 2, John Scalzi has written or co-written the Love, Death & Robots episodes which are based on his short stories.
  • Amy Winfrey contributed to the Making Fiends television series that was adapted from her web series of the same name, writing or co-writing the majority of the episodes in addition to reprising her roles from the web series as Charlotte, Marion, Mrs. Millet and Giant Kitty as well as voicing Charlotte's grandmother Charlene, one of the characters exclusive to the TV adaptation.
  • The unsuccessful [adult swim] pilot Penguins Behind Bars was adapted from a graphic novel of the same title by Janet Perlman. Perlman herself wrote the pilot's script, directed it and produced it for Adult Swim through her company Hulascope Studio Inc.
  • The pilot for 1979's Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, "The Scarab Lives", was loosely based on the first story of issue #24 of the Gold Key Scooby-Doo comic book, "Mark of the Blue Scarab." Both were written by Mark Evanier.

    Multimedia 

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