Jan Eyre is an adaptation of a dead author's work.
Charlotte Brontë ( [ ˈbrɒnti ] , commonly [ ˈbrɒnteɪ ] 21 April 1816 -- 31 March 1855 ) was an English novelist and poet , the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels have become classics of English literature . Jane Eyre (2011 film) . The screenplay is written by Moira Buffini based on the 1847 novel of the same name by Charlotte Brontë .