Posted July 31, 2002

Albuquerque Alibi article Gaiman Still Waiting for First Film More than a dozen of Neil Gaiman’s books and stories have been optioned for film but none have made it to the screen yet, as Variety notes. With the big wave of kids’ fantasy projects his new CORALINE may be the first to the finish line, with Pandemonium Films producing. Gaiman remains sanguine, saying: “I’m now writing fewer and fewer scripts of my own stuff.

Posted July 26, 2002

The studio got an exclusive look at Crichton’s next novel, PREY, and bought film rights for close to $5 million. Crichton was represented in the deal by attorney Charles D. Silverberg (manager Mike Ovitz apparently played no part in it), who tells Variety it “was sent to Fox by Michael by design. There is the hope that the whole will be greater than the parts.

Posted July 18, 2002

Rights were initially bought by Itsy Bitsy Entertaiment in 1999 for an estimated $3-$4 million, and are now controlled by Handmade Films, which is working with producer Denise Di Novi. Hollywood Reporter story Not Much on the Shelves for Ethical Executives BusinessWeek surveys the smattering of books that address ethical management and corporate accounting, and finds editors only mildly enthusiastic about new books on the subject — unless they come from high-profile

Posted July 15, 2002

First the studio bought film rights (through Rod Hall), and then Talk Miramax topped other bidders for book rights, sold by agent Laura Cecil, with Random publishing in the UK. The deal was made on the basis of a 120-page sample from the first title, THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND, and an outline for the three books. Stroud, 31, was a children’s book editor at Kingfisher. Variety story 2.

Posted July 10, 2002

swings to “With indies fading, fiction sales fizzle: Is literary fiction an endangered species in Hollywood?” The triggers cited are the recent closing of Film Four, which “until last week was an active buyer of high-caliber and offbeat fiction” (and “a nasty surprise for many book agents”), Miramax’s new focus on franchises with kid and family appeal, and the more ambiguous merging of Good Machine into what’s now Universal Focus.

Posted July 1, 2002

” Also interesting are the misses: Chabon wrote a treatment for the X-Men film in 1996. The next year Speed director Jan De Bont optioned his “The Martian Agent,” which “the writer describes as “Lawrence of Arabia on Mars in 1899.” Other unproduced projects include a TV series about a rock band in Pittsburgh, and another show about two families in Oakland.

Posted June 26, 2002

big first fiction sale, a small press sell rights to a rising novelist to a big house, lessons from top CEOs, surprising adventures in a Buddhist retreat, new film licenses, and more — and look for further reports live during the day. Plus, deals are searchable all the time (our database of transactions now has over 2,500 records, great for researching editors, agents, topics, and seasons), at PublishersMarketplace.com.

Posted June 25, 2002

Kubrick as an executive producer, is preparing a book along with his sister Christiane (who is also Kubrick’s widow), STANLEY KUBRICK’S NAPOLEON: His Greatest Film Never Made. Kubrick spent 30 years planning a film on Napoleon, and built his own reference library of more than 18,000 documents. Hollywood Reporter article More Lunch, More Attention, More Features Did you know that members can read Lunch on the web now, too, and search a growing archive or over six

Posted June 19, 2002

NYT on the non-book But Grisham’s Jury Finally Goes Forward Filming of John Grisham’s RUNAWAY JURY really will start on September 16 after years of delays. Variety reports that Rachel Weisz has been signed for the female lead, joined by John Cusack, Gene Hackman, and Dustin Hoffman. New Regency is still looking for a US distribution partner (Warner Bros. dropped out a while ago). Variety says the six years of development cost $15 million in book rights and script costs.

Posted June 12, 2002

Nickelodeon’s live-action feature film version is scheduled for a holiday 2003 release. Barry Sonnenfeld is directing, and Scott Rudin is producing. Variety says Nickelodeon Film and Television president Albie Hecht characterizes it as “the company’s most ambitious franchise foray.” The New York Daily News says a musical is in the works, too.

Posted June 7, 2002

William Nicholson, author of the Wind Singer children’s trilogy, announced at the Hay-on-Wye book festival that’s he turned a $1 million offer for film rights to his books. “The minute a film is made, a book dwindles away and becomes nothing. I want it to be a book that people can make the movie in their heads.” But it’s not a permanent decision; he tells the Guardian the ban will last five years.

Posted June 4, 2002

items include: THE HOUSE OFF EDEN ROAD a novel of cousins whose lives are transformed by betrayal and treachery, against a backdrop of blues music; trade rights for two horror/suspense novels; foreign rights to a number of non-fiction titles already sold in the US, and much more every day, easy to browse at your leisure and follow up on if you wish.

Posted May 29, 2002

for inspiring her.) Foreign rights for Richard Carlson, Victoria Moran and John Gray will continue to be represented by Linda Michaels. Foreign rights to most of her food/health/vegetarian clients — including Neal Barnard, Physicians’ Committee for Responsible Medicine, and Howard Lyman — are with The Creative Culture. Other foreign rights will be handled by Candace Groskreutz.

Posted May 28, 2002

'” NYT on Carter A New Director for Harry Potter Warner Bros. is looking for a new director for the third Harry Potter film adaptation, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, as Chris Columbus is tired of living in England. Variety say Alfonso Cuaron, director of Y tu mama tambien, is high on the list. (Don’t worry; he also directed A Little Princess.

Posted May 22, 2002

narrative non-fiction story of daredevil postal pilots, a fascinating scientific collaboration between Charles Lindbergh and Nobel laureate Alexis Carrel, many film deals, and more, updated and searchable all the time at PublishersMarketplace.com. Join Marketplace here and enjoy full benefits Go directly to the latest deals Deal News Have a deal to report? Just e-mail to michael@caderbooks.com anytime, or just use the form at PublishersMarketplace.

Posted May 14, 2002

there’s nothing here about his recent agent jumping (from Richard Pine to Janklow & Nesbit to William Morris) and his clearly expressed desire for more film versions of his work. But on Patterson’s periodic consideration of a new publisher, the paper notes: “Mr. Patterson is expected to fulfill his contract early next year. It’s not certain he’ll remain with Little Brown, although he says he is happy there.

Posted May 8, 2002

” Both are said to be delivering major fiction manuscripts later this year; though publishing rights are consigned under multi-book deals, movie rights would still be on the table. The same column notes that UTA will be the exclusive film and TV agent for Mondadori and art publisher Il Saggiatore. One of the first titles to be developed is a three-book series about Nostradamus, positioned as Lord of the Rings meets Name of the Rose.

Posted May 7, 2002

The Latest Deals It should be no big surprise that as we catch up from the last few days there’s a wealth of new deals, including: a film deal for an Orange candidate, a major study of aggression in women, a women’s magazine editor’s frank look at modern marriage, a big first fiction pre-empt for Knopf, a singer-songwriter’s dark memoir, two big fitness books with Eastern twists, a dual biography of Hollywood’s Wassermans, a “shiksa’s” view of her world, a touching story of

Posted April 24, 2002

Knopf will publish her third novel, HER, next month (film rights are with Julia Roberts’ production company, and Wendy Wasserstein is writing the screenplay.) Her next book is ”a romantic comedy mystery” set in New York and Gloucester. Chicago Tribune on Roberts Boston Globe on Zigman Ovitz Looking for AMG Exit Mike Ovitz is looking to merge or sell AMG, according to sources cited in the NYTimes.

Posted April 16, 2002

The start-up company founded by editor Shawn Coyne and film producer Webster Stone sees the trailer as another step in their creative approach to publishing books and developing those titles on the screen. Rugged Land has just taken a six-figure floor for the paperback rights, and they have another six-figure floor for Shepherd’s next novel, EULOGY FOR JOSEPH WAY, which they are publishing in April 2003.