Steve Kloves

If there were a magical incantation to translate a book into a screenplay, the perfect time to use it would be when adapting the seven Harry Potter novels for the screen. And if Steve Kloves used such a spell, he's not confessing to it.

(We're not sure if adapting one of the most popular book series of all time into a movie is the greatest gig in the world or the worst. Fighting Voldemort might be easier than appealing to the billions of Potterheads.)

But Kloves more or less succeeded. He wrote the screenplays for all eight Potter films, and received Hugo Award nominations for most of his efforts.

Prior to Potter, Kloves adapted the screenplay from Michael Chabon's Wonder Boys (2000) and created The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) starring Catwoman—er—Michelle Pfeiffer. (Source)

So yeah. Kloves is a talent whether or not he's working in adaptation, Nic Cage-style.