When it comes to short stories being turned into movies, there is one master that comes to mind: Stephen King. His short stories have been the source material that created such films as The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, 1408, The Mist and Children of the Corn, to name a few.

Of course, his novels have been turned into several films as well.

But taking source material and turning it into a screenplay that expands the original text can be tricky. What’s difficult about using this material is that it’s been read and imagined by countless readers who (usually) eagerly anticipate the motion picture. These readers have pictured what happens in their minds with the characters in the story – now the screenwriter must rip away everything that’s not going to be cinematic and ensure it serves the narrative of a film, not a book. In doing so, they are tearing away what countless readers visualized and replaced it with their own.

With short stories, it’s a little different.

Because of their length, the screenwriter must add material and expand the universe. Sometimes it’s a matter of taking the idea in a completely different direction.

That’s the case with Stephen King’s The Monkey, a creepy tale from the Skeleton Crew collection about a “don’t call it a toy” monkey dressed in a red vest and plays a drum and those whose lives are upended by it. This monkey seems to control the fate of any random person in close proximity whenever someone twists the key and allows it to start playing.

Other than the names, the film is almost completely different from the short story.

Using The Monkey as a case study, here are 5 things a screenwriter can consider when adapting a short story into a feature film.

1. What’s the Spirit of the Story?

For The Monkey, the basic idea of the story revolves around a man dealing with the deaths stemming from a toy monkey with malicious powers. What’s interesting about this monkey in both the short story and the film is it doesn’t say a single word. In fact, all it does is show its teeth, play a song then bang on the drums. It’s after the monkey stops pounding on the drums that something sinister happens.

The story is about a young Hal (Christian Convery) and the adult Hal (Theo James) dealing with the consequences of the monkey. This is where the short story and the film break away from one another.

In the short story, Hal has two sons and a wife, a good job and a different life. The film shows Hal living a lonely existence. After the trauma of the deaths when he was young, and the guilt he feels of possibly being a part of it, Hal avoids friends and family and only sees his estranged son one week per year to minimize the possibility he would be responsible for their deaths.

The spirit of the story surrounds guilt, randomness and worry, which is present in the film even though the plots are different.

Tatiana Maslany in 'The Monkey'

2. Make it Your Own

While Stephen King has made his feelings about Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining known, it’s definitely worth noting that Kubrick’s version is his own. These different versions of the same story are both classics but it highlights the importance of adapting a story to suit your vision.

While that seems a bit selfish, it’s okay to differentiate the source material to the film. Remember, people who read the book often have a hard time liking the movie. It’s because they have their vision of the story and it’s different from yours.

Osgood Perkins, who both wrote and directed the film, makes this his own story by adding humor, creating more graphic deaths and expanding on the story and characters.

When you adapt a short story, it’s even more important to allow yourself the creative freedom to express your interpretation of the story.

Think about the various adaptations of Dracula that have been created since the original story. Nosferatu is the story of Dracula but the filmmakers didn’t have the rights to Dracula so they had to make a version of it without directly referencing it. The 1922 version is different from Eggers’ 2024 imagining. And Mel Brooks’ Dracula: Dead and Loving It is just a slight variation of Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula – and yet, these are all technically the same story told by filmmakers who made it their own.

3. Death in Both Stories

It’s established in the first scene that the monkey causes death. In the short story, the two brothers Hal and Bill, learn that their babysitter was involved in a shooting at her apartment believing that the time of their death coincides with when they first turned the key on the monkey. The babysitter meets a much different fate in the film.

While a double homicide is tragic, it’s not anything spectacular cinematically. Perkins recognized this and adapted the film to have more creative, even comical deaths. It becomes akin to the Final Destination franchise where the circumstances set up that there will be a gruesome death and the audience is eager to figure out what will happen.

4. Expand the Story

The Monkey runs about 15,000 words and goes into minute details about everything from houses to the way the wind blows. When it comes to adapting a short story into a screenplay, there is only so much material you can use. It’s the screenwriter’s job to add to the story to make it suitable for the screen.

Perkins does this by taking elements of the short story then adding scenes and characters. He also changes the dynamics of the characters. In the short story, Hal has two kids and a wife. In the movie, Hal is not married but has an estranged son. Perkins was better able to expand on the story he wanted to tell while maintaining the integrity of King’s central character. This also allowed Perkins to further dive into the psyche of someone who was traumatized as a child and how they live as an adult. As the audience, we totally understand Hal’s lonely, secretive life. His son, Petey (Colin O’Brien), doesn’t. This conflict comes to fruition as Petey comes along for the ride as Hal must confront his past. It makes it more intriguing the dynamic between the two in the short story.

This storyline is one example of how Perkins expanded the story, after changing it from the original.

Theo James in 'The Monkey'

5. When Does the Story Take Place?

In the original short story, the year is 1985. While there aren’t many references to that time period in the story, it’s when King had it take place. However, Perkins decided to move the story to the present day.

The film does start in 1999 when Hal and Billy are young but their adult versions, and most of the film, occur in present day. This involves changing some aspects of the story such as the use of mobile phones, cameras and the internet.

If there is no specific time period in which the film needs to take place, then modernize it. This has occurred in films like The World of the Worlds and The Day the Earth Stood Still.

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Finally, there isn’t any humor in the short story, however, the movie The Monkey is quite funny. The creative death scenes have the feeling of a groaning dad joke (I mean this in the best way) and is part of the tone of the movie. Perkins used this style of horror/comedy to make the movie his own. Once screenwriters begin adapting a story, the screenplay becomes their story and allows them freedom to make changes.

Reading the short story and seeing The Monkey is a great lesson in story adaptation.