1. Find a bestselling dystopian YA novel yet to be filmed (if there are any left). Why write a whole new screenplay when an adaptation is quicker, and you already have a captive audience? Trilogies provide plenty of material; but shooting a trilogy can be devastating if the first film fails - and a licence to print money if it’s a hit. Choose carefully.
2. Source material is written in the first person? No problem. Solution: use a voiceover. Saves time on screenplay development (see 1.) and sounds equally great recorded on a close mic rumbling through those quadraphonic cinema speakers or through earbuds on the train.
4. “Adult” leads should be grizzled oldsters or household names that will burn the other unknown adult actors from memory. Academy Award winners are highly desirable.
5. For design tips, watch classic sci-fi dystopian films back-to-back across one weekend, starting with Blade Runner and including Mad Max, Children of Men, and Gattaca. But don’t let it get too gritty, that may be too dark for your audience. See any recent Tom Cruise film to get the balance right. Examples at http://letterboxd.com/gingernut/list/dystopian/
6. Handheld cameras and reality-TV style “natural” compositions are best for cinematographic choices. The closer your film looks to our current reality, the better.
7. Absolutely, positively, never ever stick to the series format of the source material. A single book? Pan it out over three films. A trilogy? Split the last one into two, stupid. Any self-respecting studio who can’t create a movie series these days should give it up. Very important: release them on the same day, and annually, easier for fans to pop the date into their phone’s calendar.
8. Create a buzz around any part of the film that is controversial/sexy/violent/rebellious/unsavoury. Obviously! Flood social media, manage strategic leaks of casting, script or directorial details, have the source book reprinted with your controversial/sexy/violent/rebellious/unsavoury artwork.
10. Sit back and watch the $$$ roll in. There’s loads of dough to be shamelessly made here through merchandising, video game crossovers, sequels, board games, apps, recipe books. Get creative, people! Your audience will love whatever you do if you follow these steps closely, and the best thing about the YA demographic is...it’s always being refreshed by more YAs growing into it. And the ones who grow out of it show it to their own kids 20 years later and you get to reap the profits all over again. A new Spiderman series, anyone?