Frederick Zimmerman -
Nice site (IBIC). Well done. Great voice and tenor. Hope my lit.
site (whenever it might become reality) is as well written.
More food for thought: You might wish to check out a Los Angeles
Times article (Los Angeles Times Magazine ["Palm Latitudes" section],
Sunday, October 8, 1995) by Marcus Errico entitled "Look Ma, No
Publisher" (Their punctuation, not mine). The single column piece
begins:
"Converting best-selling books to big-screen blockbusters has
long been profitable for Hollywood, but a staple of today's megadeals
is selling a books film rights *before* the novel is published - or
even has a publisher. According to Publishers Weekly columnist Paul
Nathan, here are five of the most recent lucrative pre-publication
deals:"
The article then lists five manuscripts whose film rights have sold
for $400,000 or more (mostly more).
Another example - which was probably mentioned in Nathan's P.W.
article, I don't know for sure - was Nicholas Evans' *The Horse
Whisper.* Back in November, before a publisher had even smiled at
Evans, before the man had even finished writing the story, Hollywood
Pictures/Robert Redford had negotiated a $3-million film rights deal.
But none of this is really new...other than the fact that film
studios are now directly dealing with authors and authors agents. In
the good old days, it used to be the New York publishing houses that
delivered the goods to Hollywood. Remember "Soon to be a major
motion picture!"
What makes this doubly interesting for me is a recent David Mamet
article I read decrying the present state of (of all things)
*screen*writing. Mamet argues that many of today's screenplays
woefully fail to translate both the imagery and dialogue of the final
product. Instead, they are written to entertain and titillate the
literary sensibilities of lower echelon studio readers (admittedly
college-educated) who are the first to say "pass" or "consider" on
the screenplay's journey through the studio system.
Something's happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear.