So, every writer wants their book made into a movie, right? Maybe not. I thought the below article was interesting about local (Ann Arbor, Michigan) folk who had their books optioned for movies. It doesn’t always wrap up with a fairy tale ending, as you’ll read in the text.J. Robert Lennon had his book, Mailman, optioned for book rights and at one time heard the name of a big Hollywood actor associated with it. That was in 2004 when I met him for the first time at the Bear River writers conference, which was a fantastic experience. I recommend it for any writer. Anyway, there’s been crickets on Lennon’s movie deal since, though who knows. According to the article, these things can take years.
Lights, camera, action … or maybe not
Local authors wait for films to be made based on their books
ANN ARBOR NEWS
Sunday, September 10, 2006
BY MARIANNE RZEPKA
News Staff Reporter
Bob Wilson, a Northville attorney and writer, sold the options on his book, “Crooked Tree,” when it first came out.
In fact, he says, “I sold it three times.”
Wilson even wrote a screenplay, but still no movie has been seen.
Writers are happy enough to get their work published, but it can be the icing on the cake when Hollywood buys the rights to make a book into a movie. And Wilson’s not the only area author to have sold his book rights.
Locally, at least three writers have current contracts to turn their printed words into cinema. In one case, cameras are rolling now on a film being made from a book by Chelsea author Laura Kasischke.
However, just selling the options doesn’t mean a movie will follow.
Mary Bisbee-Beek, trade marketing manager at the University of Michigan Press, set up a movie deal for another writer, W.D. Wetherell, after his book “A Century of November,” published by the U-M Press, got a rave review in Entertainment Weekly.
Wetherell was a bit “cavalier” about the whole thing, says Bisbee-Beek. “He told me ‘I had a book that was optioned for 14 years,”’ she says.
To be made into a movie, the project has to have a wonderful screenplay, a first-rate director and name actors, says Simon Lipskar, of the New York firm Writers House.
“And it has to convince a movie studio that it will make money on it – that they will make money on top of the 10 to 50 to 100 to $150 million it takes to make the movie,” the agent says.
Even if a movie is made, says Lipskar, it’s not always a win-win situation.
“Authors who get movies made are both cursed and lucky,” he says.
“Cursed because they must live with the movie’s creations (of their characters) forever. Lucky because they’ve probably been paid very well, in many cases, more than they’ve been paid for their books.”
Usually, an author will sell the book option for a set amount and for a set period of time. The author gets more money if the movie is made.
Lipskar says options for book rights can run from $5,000 and up.
Of that, the agent who arranged the deal usually gets a standard 15 percent fee, he says.
There are no figures on how many optioned books are made into movies, says Lipskar. “It’s not Las Vegas,” he says. “It’s hard to put odds down.”
Kasischke has beaten whatever the odds are.
A film of her book “The Life Before Her Eyes” is being filmed in Connecticut now. Retitled “In Bloom,” it stars Uma Thurman and Pierce Brosnan. The director is Vadim Perelman who previously directed “House of Sand and Fog.”
The book was published in 2001 and the movie options sold soon afterward, says Kasischke.
She heard nothing for years. Then, in May, Kasischke – who teaches at U-M – received a message that Thurman had agreed to be in the film.
It’s not the first time one of her books was optioned for a film. Her first novel, “Suspicious River,” was turned into a film by a small independent producer in Canada.
But that was a little-seen movie, without the star power of the upcoming film.
Kasischke declines to discuss dollar amounts, but she says that the money paid when a movie is made is “about 200 times” whatever is paid for the options.
Kasischke, who has written six books of poetry, has produced four novels and sold the options on all of them, including one, titled “Be Mine,” due out in January.
Local author Elizabeth Kostova could be close to seeing her best-selling book, “The Historian,” made into a movie.
Producer Douglas Wick is lined up to make the film; he’s also done “Memoirs of a Geisha,” “Girl Interrupted” and “Gladiator.”
Still, it’s not clear when her book will be shown on the big screen. After all, it took seven years for “Memoirs of a Geisha” to be shot, says Kostova, who teaches at the University of Michigan’s creative writing program.
She won’t say how much Hollywood money she will get. However, she explains that Sony paid for the rights to the book for two years, and there will be more coming to her when the movie is made. Her contract also stipulates that she will get a bonus amount if the book becomes a bestseller and if the movie makes a certain amount of money.
“This gives studios a lot of flexibility,” Kostova says, since they don’t have to pay a lot of money if the movie isn’t made or isn’t as popular as they had hoped.
Publishers Weekly, Variety and other publications have reported film rights to “The Historian” sold for $1.5 million to $1.75 million.
But Kostova cautions that she’s not going to see all that money. Her two agents will get their cuts, and another 60 percent will go in taxes and commissions.
Some authors, like Ann Arbor writer Steve Gillis, turn down movie option deals.
Gillis, who founded the 826 Michigan program for young writers, had an offer for his book, “Walter Falls,” but passed on the $20,000 option when he realized the producer wanted to turn the novel into a mystery, “which it isn’t,” he says.
“I didn’t want to get caught up in the whole process, and I felt I was selling my soul to the devil,” says Gillis. “My agent nearly killed me.”
Ann Arbor’s Steve Amick also said “no” to a deal, just before he said “yes” to another for rights to his book “The Lake, the River and the Other Lake: A Novel.”
The title was shopped around for about a year. But the only offer was for a television series, a la “Northern Exposure,” he says.
Amick passed, worried that the show “could have gone on forever as something horrible.”
Then, out of the blue, he got a call from his Los Angeles agent who told him that someone was interested in the book. That someone was Gary David Goldberg, of Ubu Productions, who produced, directed and adapted the movie “Must Love Dogs,” and has credits going back to creating and producing television shows, such as “Family Ties” and “Spin City.”
Amick is philosophical about what happens to the deal.
“What becomes of it is what becomes of it,” he says. “I’m sure there will be things I hate if it does go all the way, but ultimately, it brings more readers to the book.”
Marianne Rzepka can be reached at 734-994-6820 or mrzepka@annarbornews.com.
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