"Hollywood has loved books ever since the days of silent films."
Not only do film adaptations of books allow the reader's to see words come to life, but they bring along fan bases that will be rushing to the box office. It is not that simple to claim the rights of producing an adaptation of a film. It is far more extensive than one might think.
In order to reserve the motion picture rights to a book, you must communicate with either the author, or the author's agent. You MUST do your research! You have to search the registrations and recorded rights transfers for the book in the database of the U.S. Copyright office to make sure there is a copyright registered in the author's name, and that there are not conflicting registrations for productions on this book.
The author will generally reserve all book punlishing, radio, live stage, and author-written sequel rights. Generally, the major point of negotiation is the purchase price. Also, it is customary that the author reseive a net profit participation for the picture. "Net profits" is a very broad term that can be defined in many ways.
Reserving the rights to produce remakes and sequels based on the picture come as a cost to the producer towards the author. There are general prices and percentages on how to pay the authors.
"Hollywood's love for books will endure for two simple reasons: First, books offer built-in wonderfully developed stories with fascinationg plots and compelling characters; second, popular books have throngs of rabid fans who will be rushing to the box office to see th moton picture based on their beloved book."
This article provided me with an indepth description on the steps that an independent filmmaker must take in order to produce an adaptation film. I did not understand the extensive steps and fine details that are involved with turning a book into a film. In my eyes, it was a simple process. A producer sees a book they like and BOOM! The author is honored to be asked and is more than willing to help in the process of producing the film. However, it is not this easy. As a simple viewer, we do not go into deep thought about the crucial process that was gone through in order to produce our beloved book-based films.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I
(Popular and recently produced film adaptation of the third book in the Hunger Games trilogy)
Zipser, R. (2013, August 8). How to Option a Book for Film Adaptation. FILMMAKER.
I really like the topic of movies being made from a book. I do agree with you that authors should indeed do a lot of research of the book and have to work with the author. There were a couple of grammatical errors but thats easy to fix. The structure was well done with putting the quotes in the appropriate places.
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