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Movie possibilities

moviesThe oth­er day I received word from my agent that some­one was inter­est­ed in mak­ing a movie out of one of my pub­lished books. Is that excit­ing? Not real­ly. Let me explain.

The wheels of movie making—in my experience—move exceed­ing­ly slow. The first time I spoke to the per­son men­tioned above was two and a half years ago. Or longer. I can­not remem­ber. After a cou­ple of con­ver­sa­tions I heard noth­ing. That is not—for me—unusual. Over the years var­i­ous peo­ple have tak­en film options on my books. It has hap­pened maybe twelve times. One per­son held an option for eleven years. Anoth­er per­son held an option for three months. (I nev­er learned who) I have a cou­ple of books cur­rent­ly under option. One of them has gone on for five years. Do I ever hear from these folks? Nev­er. Is there mon­ey involved? For that three month option I made eight hun­dred dol­lars. Over that eleven year option I earned more, but noth­ing I could live on.

The chief point is no one has ever made a movie with one of my books. I have come close. A film of True Con­fes­sions of Char­lotte Doyle was two weeks from pro­duc­tion, when one of the lead actors (he also had a finan­cial inter­est in the pro­duc­tion) was in a car acci­dent. He was dis­abled for six months. The pro­duc­tion was canceled.

Would I like to have a movie made from one of my books? I have a num­ber of writ­ing friends who have achieved this. Not one of them has said, “I thought they made a good film out of my book.” But all of them have said some­thing like, “It was fun to be part of the process and the release of the movie enhanced the sale of my book.”

Again, would I like to have a movie made from one of my books? Sure. Do I think it will hap­pen? No. Am I excit­ed by the lat­est pos­si­bil­i­ty? Expe­ri­ence has told me to stay with the key­board. I am almost fin­ished writ­ing the first draft of a new book. Now that excites me.

8 thoughts on “Movie possibilities”

  1. Pixar would be a good match for PERLOO THE BOLD. WOLF RIDER would be anoth­er I’d love to see on the sil­ver screen. Until then, I’ll just have to re-read the books myself.

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  2. I still think True Con­fes­sions of Char­lotte Dole would make a spec­tac­u­lar film. I was sad to learn the movie was cancelled.

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  3. While I would love to see a movie of Char­lotte Doyle and many oth­ers– ani­mat­ed Pop­py for exam­ple– I too am much more thrilled that there might be a new Avi title in the future. I think the place in my head where I envi­sion what hap­pens in the books is always bet­ter than what I get in a movie. There are rare times when the book was not that great, and then the movie can almost redeem it. But I’m sure that would not be one of yours.

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  4. AVI: My first nov­el, MAMA (Boyds Mills Press; paper­back) has been in print for over three decades and optioned time and time again. Some of the actress­es who were inter­est­ed in the role are either too old or dead! Yes, the option process goes on and on.

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  5. I have to admit, I was ter­ri­fied when I heard some­one was mak­ing the True Con­fes­sions of Char­lotte Doyle into a movie. There is no way the film would have lived up to the high stan­dards in my head. I do hope you get your film, but maybe not that one… But a new book! Yes, please!

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  6. Yes, I’d rather see a new book as well. I remem­ber see­ing “Guardians of Ga’Hoole” and think­ing that, despite the author being list­ed as a pro­duc­er or some­thing, it was­n’t very true to the series.

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  7. I am 70 plus years old and just fin­ished Crispin The Edge of the World. I could­n’t put it down. And the cov­er from Thorndike Press is special.

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