Newbie Question

JustAWriter1 · Jul 24, 2013

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie at film, so I have a question. If an author wanted to turn a book into a movie, would they need a literary agent or would they be able to contact producers directly? I have no knowledge in screenplays, so would I just try selling the novel idea to them? And, if I could contact producers, where would I find them? Is there a website?

Thanks in advance!

dpaterso · Jul 26, 2013

Hopefully you'll get some better answers, but I think it works the other way round -- execs decide they want to make a movie from a bestselling novel, and contact the publisher and/or agent to discuss optioning the rights. I'd consider looking for an agent, if you haven't already.

Check out post #3 in the screenwriting tips sticky thread.

-Derek

JustAWriter1 · Jul 26, 2013

Thank you so much!

creativexec · Jul 28, 2013

There's all different ways to go about it.

The bigger agencies have book-to-film departments that represent literary material to producers and studios. While they might consider work from outside the agency, this department mostly represents the work of authors that are existing clients (in the book division).

When I was at ICM, the NY Times was a client, so I'd scan that paper everyday looking for potential articles that we could represent to the industry as possible films or TV shows.

If your book was a bestseller or has some kind of real following (real means substantiated), then an agent might be interested in repping your book. If the book is relatively anonymous, it will be very difficult to convince an agent to rep you (at least an agent who can really get the job done).

If the book is unknown, your best bet would be to interest a producer - someone who falls in love with the book that he feels compelled to turn it into a movie. But, as you can imagine, this is not an easy task.

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