ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

11 years, 5 months ago - Sean McConville

THIS INFO MIGHT HELP -

You can pretty easily find out if the rights are available to a book/novel. The simplest route is to just look it up on Amazon.com, then look up the publishing company and/or the author directly online via Google. You'll find either the publisher's Web site, or the author's Web site, and either of them will have direct contact information for you to use. Calling is best, but also send an email to cover all your bases (if an email address is provided). Tell them you're calling to inquire about the availability of rights to the book, and ask who you can talk to in order to find out rather quickly -- it helps to say outright that you're sort of on a deadline to find out and get things moving if it's available.

To demonstrate, I did this simple test of the method:

1. I Googled "Amazon" and from the top result, I selected the "Books" option to go directly to the book page;

2. On this books main page ( http://www.amazon.com/books-used... ), I simply picked the first book at the top of the page that showed up for me -- Erik Larson's In the Garden of Beasts;

3. I Googled Erik Larson first, and found his professional Web site (http://eriklarsonbooks.com/ ), which has both a contact page to write to him with any inquiries ( http://eriklarsonbooks.com/about... ) and a page where you can simply ask him anything you want directly ( http://eriklarsonbooks.com/your-... );

It probably won't be quite so simple with every book/author, but the point is that with the Internet, you can quickly find the author and publisher of any book, and then find a site that provides contact information to send an inquiry directly.

And I assure you, if the rights to a book are available, you most definitely will get a response in a fairly timely manner.

Some additional good general sources to find out about book deals that have been made are:

http://www.donedealpro.com/defau...
http://www.rightscenter.com/

You can contact both of those resources if you suspect a particular work might have recently been optioned/sold but hasn't made the lists yet.

Lastly, you could get the 2011 Guide to Literary Agents (http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Lite... ) then use IMDB Pro (https://secure.imdb.com/signup/i... ) to discover the agents representing particular authors, and just contact those agents directly.

I've personally worked on several films and TV projects based on books to which we first obtained adaptation rights. Finding out about the availability of rights is a fairly easy part of the process -- negotiating those rights, well... that's not quite as easy! ;)

11 years, 5 months ago - Dan Selakovich

I've never heard of a one stop shop like that. Is the author living? They probably have a web site. The easiest way is to contact them directly and ask. If that doesn't work, contact the publisher. Big publishers have a Rights and Acquisition department. Here's the problem with doing it that way: They will want to see a proposal. Getting subsidiary rights from a publisher is difficult for a nobody, unless you're a rich nobody.

If the book has been published recently from a big publisher, the odds are that the rights are already tied up. Publishers and agents have a big pipeline to the studios. They tend to get manuscripts of books before they hit the shelves. They'll option the book to tie up the rights, then if it's a hit, make a movie out of it.

In the end, it's better to go through the author or the author's agent. That IS something you can find on the inter webs.

11 years, 5 months ago - Stephen Potts

Hi Louise,
I've been on both sides of option deals, so may be able to advise. As Dan says, best sellers by famous authors will either already be under option or will be very expensive. Less-well known books by less well-known authors can sometimes be optioned pretty easily and cheaply (though it is important to treat the author fairly.)
If the publisher is big, they will have a rights department. Call them and ask if the rights to the book are assigned. If the answer is no, ask who (ie which agent) represents the author. (This information may already be available via google). Contact the agent and confirm that the rights are available. They will quickly ask if you want to make an offer: so don't call until you have an answer to this. The cost of options varies very widely. One of my books was optioned on publication by a major company for a fee most indie prodiucers couldn't afford. The film wasn't made, and several years later it was optioned agsin, this time by a minior company, for £1 (which I didn't receive).
Rough rule of thumb: a film made from a book will pay 2-3% of its budget to the author. Option fees are in the region 5-10% of that fee, and last 1-2 years before renewal for a furher fee. So if your budget is £1million, approx £25,000 goes to the author when it is made, and the option fee is approx £2500. You can negotiate fees much lower than this, but you need to offer something in return ( a higher payment when the film is made, a cut of any profit, etc)
A book written in the 1920s may well be out of copyright and therefore in the public domain, depending on the exact year, the country, and the date of the author's death. For example all works published in the US before 1923 are now in the public domain,
Feel free to contact me to discuss further,

Stephen
www.stephenpotts.net

11 years, 5 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

It's entirely possible that the agent will be ignorant, full of ****, and lazy as hell. Best I don't name names, but the last one I dealt with flat out lied to me, dawdled over doing anything she said she would, and in the end irritated me so much I canned the project and the author lost a bunch of free money for a book languishing in the several hundred thousands on Amazon's ranking, a decade after publication.

11 years, 5 months ago - Louise McConnell

Thank you everyone so much for your brilliant advice. It might take me a little while to work my way through your answers, but I'll get back to you all in the next couple of days. Thanks again.

11 years, 5 months ago - Louise McConnell

Hi Dan,
Thanks so much for your advice and getting back to me so quickly - really appreciate it! The novel was written the in 1920's and I so presume the author isn't still living, but I'll go down that route to find out more about them and see if that leads to an answer.
Many thanks again!
Louise