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WILL THERE BE A MOVIE BASED ON YOUR BOOK?
I get this question every day, and, first, I& #39;m SUPER flattered that readers are so passionate. But there& #39;s a lot about the movie process that people don& #39;t get, so here are the key things I wish people knew/understood.
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I get this question every day, and, first, I& #39;m SUPER flattered that readers are so passionate. But there& #39;s a lot about the movie process that people don& #39;t get, so here are the key things I wish people knew/understood.
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1. Authors don& #39;t make movies. Even a cheap movie (for my books) would cost tens of millions of dollars. I don& #39;t have the money to do that. Nor do I have the expertise. Authors write books. We don& #39;t make movies.
2. Authors can option our books to studios and prod. companies--you know, people who make movies!
I& #39;ve done this many, many times, but getting something made is MUCH harder than it appears.
I& #39;ve done this many, many times, but getting something made is MUCH harder than it appears.
3. An option doesn& #39;t mean there will be a movie. It means they& #39;ll have 18-36 months to TRY to make a movie.
I& #39;ve had options w:
-Disney
-Walden Media
-Sony
-Warner Bros
-Lionsgate
-Tonik
-Paramount
Those options have all expired. (There are 3 in the works I can& #39;t talk about.)
I& #39;ve had options w:
-Disney
-Walden Media
-Sony
-Warner Bros
-Lionsgate
-Tonik
-Paramount
Those options have all expired. (There are 3 in the works I can& #39;t talk about.)
4. "Why won& #39;t you tell us if there& #39;s going to be a movie! Either it is or it isn& #39;t!"
I get this...a lot. But see #3. It& #39;s not a yes/no question. Ppl option books and try to get scripts and convince other people to give them millions of $.
It is NEVER yes/no. IT& #39;S ALWAYS MAYBE
I get this...a lot. But see #3. It& #39;s not a yes/no question. Ppl option books and try to get scripts and convince other people to give them millions of $.
It is NEVER yes/no. IT& #39;S ALWAYS MAYBE
5. Things in Hollywood take an extremely long time & there& #39;s a huge time lag with info.
One time, some HUGE news broke, but, by that point, I knew the project was already dead.
So YOU DON& #39;T KNOW WHAT& #39;S HAPPENING. And I can& #39;t tell you.
One time, some HUGE news broke, but, by that point, I knew the project was already dead.
So YOU DON& #39;T KNOW WHAT& #39;S HAPPENING. And I can& #39;t tell you.
6. I understand that a lot of people want to be actors, but I don& #39;t understand why so many think there will be "try outs" like this is a middle school production of Guys & Dolls.
If you want to act, cool! Learn how that works and do those things. Good luck!
If you want to act, cool! Learn how that works and do those things. Good luck!
7. Same for people who want to write the script or be producers. All extremely cool ambitions! But if you& #39;re serious about it, you& #39;ll learn how the industry works and you& #39;ll go through proper channels. (If you don& #39;t know what the channels are, you aren& #39;t ready for this job.)
8. "Don& #39;t let them mess it up!"
Uh...I don& #39;t want them to mess it up either. But if your idea of "mess it up" is that they change someone& #39;s eye color then don& #39;t see the movie. For real. Stay away. Nothing will make you happy.
Uh...I don& #39;t want them to mess it up either. But if your idea of "mess it up" is that they change someone& #39;s eye color then don& #39;t see the movie. For real. Stay away. Nothing will make you happy.
9. Movies and books are different. There will be changes. And, ultimately, the person writing the 8-figure check will get to decide what changes there are.
I try to option stuff to people who I think will do a good job, but you don& #39;t know. It& #39;s a leap of faith.
I try to option stuff to people who I think will do a good job, but you don& #39;t know. It& #39;s a leap of faith.
10. "I don& #39;t want a movie. I want a tv show on Netflix."
Okay. Cool. That could happen too. I& #39;m speaking generally about Hollywood stuff.
Okay. Cool. That could happen too. I& #39;m speaking generally about Hollywood stuff.
I get that people want a movie. But no one wants it more than I do. For 15 years, I& #39;ve been working toward this. Maybe it will happen someday. Prob it won& #39;t.
But it won& #39;t be bc I gave up or didn& #39;t want it.
But it won& #39;t be bc I gave up or didn& #39;t want it.
If you want to read more on the subject, some VERY old blog posts: https://allycarter.com/2011/01/how-movies-happen/">https://allycarter.com/2011/01/h...
Or this on the art of book-to-film adaptations: https://allycarter.com/2015/07/baking-soda-and-the-art-of-book-to-film-adaptations/">https://allycarter.com/2015/07/b...
