Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

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  • Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

    Is it always the case that the situation of a TV show creator is much worse than that of a novelist?

    JK Rowling has tremendous creative control over everything Harry Potter. Max Landis got booted from Bright franchise without a single squeak.

    Can HBO do True Detective without Pizzolato? Can Netflix do Stranger Things without Duffer brothers?

    Of course much depends on specific contracts. But I'm under an impression that novelists that create a successful IP have it much better than screenwriters. Am I correct in that?

  • #2
    Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

    Originally posted by goldmund View Post
    Is it always the case that the situation of a TV show creator is much worse than that of a novelist?

    JK Rowling has tremendous creative control over everything Harry Potter. Max Landis got booted from Bright franchise without a single squeak.
    (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but -- )

    The reason SOME novelists have an edge over a spec writer is that when there are multiple studios that want the rights to their books -- such as Harry Potter -- then that author can write control into their contract. They can't "fire" Rowling because her level of control is written in her contract. Maybe she wants to write the scripts too, or have casting approval...

    A book author retains control of their copyright -- their book publisher does not. They're getting a 10 or 15 thousand dollar advance for a first book -- but they retain the copyright.

    If you sell a spec you're making 100 grand, 200 grand, 400 grand upfront. You're making that because you are essentially selling the copyright, saying that now the studio owns your material/owns the copyright, and they can do what they want with it, including maybe not ever making it. They are paying you, upfront, for that control.

    I think Sorkin has it written in his contracts that no one can rewrite him, btw, if it was his to begin with. So certain screenwriters do have more control.

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    • #3
      Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

      Interesting. The smartest course of action would then be to publish a novel first and if it doesn't become a bestseller turn it into a spec pilot or script. But would anyone want it then?

      It wasn't US, but I remember my novel contract with a big publisher stipulated they get 50% of what I get from selling movie rights. But the contract was terrible overall and I had no agent back then.

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      • #4
        Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

        Originally posted by goldmund View Post
        Interesting. The smartest course of action would then be to publish a novel first and if it doesn't become a bestseller turn it into a spec pilot or script. But would anyone want it then?

        It wasn't US, but I remember my novel contract with a big publisher stipulated they get 50% of what I get from selling movie rights. But the contract was terrible overall and I had no agent back then.
        I had a novel published some years back too -- I can't remember off hand what it said regarding movie rights.

        Having a novel end up a best seller is a pretty tall feat. Even Rowling, when she already had a UK publisher got rejected by five US publishers for the US rights to publish her books here before Scholastic picked her up. 98 percent of books aren't going to be a best seller. Publishers pick their "lead titles" every list (season) and those are the books that get promotion and tons of arcs and publicity. The rest get in the publisher's catalogue and fend for themselves. So, yes, why would someone want a script from a non-best-selling novel? They probably wouldn't. The whole drive to buy rights to best-sellers is that they have a built in audience for the movie.

        I find novel writing way more time consuming than screenwriting. And finding a literary agent for a book is just as hard as getting reads in screenwriting, imo. Everyone says, I'll just self-publish, but how many self published books did you read last year? None? Yep, well that's also the market for your book.

        In terms of money -- there's way more money is screenwriting than in being a book author. At both the front and back ends. Sell a book and you might never see any royalties at all. Then it goes out of print and you have nothing. Get a movie made and you get a ton upfront and then residuals, even if the movie itself sucked. Because more people see movies than read.

        You're not necessarily asking for my advice, but if you were I'd say just write the script and forget the book. Takes the better part of a year to write a novel and three months or so for a script. Why tie yourself up for a year when you could do at least a few scripts in that time.

        But obviously you should do whatever you want.

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        • #5
          Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

          I'm not necessarily NOT asking for advice, too I have a steady income from writing for others but I'm getting tired of being basically a pushover of the industry. Well, maybe I'm overreacting, but after being totally rewritten out of a high-profile project and receiving another batch of notes from a B-list actor I do long for some Creator's Power. I remember back when I wrote copy for trailers for our local HBO, JK Rowling's people dictated what words we use and what words we avoid in promos for HP. Makes you think. Especially as I have quite an original and inspiring new world in mind.

          I just remembered there are comic books, too. Much less writing than a novel and a lot of work is on your artist. Mark Millar is a master of turning comics into cinematic powerhouses.

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          • #6
            Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

            Originally posted by goldmund View Post

            Especially as I have quite an original and inspiring new world in mind.
            Did you ever read the spec, A Killing on Carnival Row (by Travis Beacham)? I loved that, great world-building and characters. So unique. Something you'd think would've had to have been written as a novel first, but it wasn't. I think it's being turned into a series of some kind. Might be worth giving it a read if you're so inclined.

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            • #7
              Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

              i think Rowling has control b/c her first Harry Potter was a huge international success. if i remember correctly, she has always maintained control since the very beginning.

              i do believe i read that Rowling is scripting all 8 fantastic beasts films.

              i think if you have a world that is unique and well crafted, you should write the books if you want to retain control (as much as possible) over your IP.

              but it has to be a world no one has seen before, with characters that are undeniably unique.
              "Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy b/c you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." -- Edward Snowden

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              • #8
                Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

                I've always contended that Steven Gould could probably resell the rights to Jumper as the novel was so vastly different to the movie
                I heard the starting gun


                sigpic

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                • #9
                  Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

                  My forthcoming novel, The Drowning, began as a screenplay. My manager shopped it around, had the odd nibble or two, and then we let it drop. But I knew I'd come up with a novel approach to the whole missing-kid story (it's based on an event from my life), and so I decided to write it as a novel, which will be my seventh.

                  So far the advance reviews, including a starred review in Publishers Weekly, have been hugely positive, and a book-to-film agent with APA is shopping it for option and/or purchase.

                  So, yes, if you have the chops to write a novel (I've been doing it for forty years), and feel that you have an original concept and execution, by all means do it. Just bear in mind that, unless you're opting for self-publishing, which is a form of heartbreaking oblivion, it's very nearly as difficult to get in print, much less finding a willing agent. Without an agent, you're in limbo when it comes to this business.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

                    Jake: maybe that’s the correct order to do it, then? First the pilot and in lack of sale, the novel?
                    I don’t think anyone in HW would touch a novel that failed to sell well.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

                      Originally posted by goldmund View Post
                      Jake: maybe that's the correct order to do it, then? First the pilot and in lack of sale, the novel?
                      I don't think anyone in HW would touch a novel that failed to sell well.
                      Right. Remember that producers and execs see publishing-not self-publishing-as the gatekeeper. If the work is successful in one medium, with decent sales, then half their work is done. It's been vetted, it's being sold, and the chances of getting optioned are higher than otherwise.

                      The whole gatekeeper concept is important in publishing, as well. Your agent is the gatekeeper. If she or he likes your book enough to represent it, and then goes on to submit it, then publishers know that a reputable tastemaker has already passed it. But, as I said, if you're coming fresh to novel writing, the climb to writing something publishable is a long one. I had to write 12 books in 12 years before I was ever published. And I had to move to England to get that far.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

                        (NOTE: I wrote nearly all of this yesterday, but then decided not to post it. I did not want to stir up animosity over this issue. But now that Jake has said pretty much the same thing about novel writing - though in a kinder, gentler way - I think I will post my thoughts after all.)


                        This matter of whether to write something as a screenplay or as a novel is a perennial issue. It pops up here every few months or so.

                        I agree with everything that Jake said. I would only add a comment about self-publishing, by which I mean ebook publishing and maybe the availability of a hard copy through print-on-demand.

                        Some books are intended for specific groups and purposes. Ebooks and print-on-demand can meet these needs. About a year ago I ordered a hard copy, at a very reasonable price, of a book on Lazarus (open-source Object Pascal) programming that was a print-on-demand book. Of course, novels are a different beast, and almost every novel published as an ebook will start out in oblivion and will remain there.

                        Conventional publishing is also terrible. It is difficult to get an agent. Material gets rejected. (A Confederacy of Dunces was rejected multiple times and was never published in the author's lifetime. I have read that the first Harry Potter book was rejected also.) When a manuscript is finally accepted, it goes through an editorial process. I do not know much about this phase, because I have never experienced it.

                        However, speaking as a person who has taught grammar and style, and who has continued to learn through practice and through editing other people's work, I can tell you that editors today may be terrible. I routinely see material, from reputable publishers, in which the writer misuses *lie* and *lay* and makes many other mistakes. And then when your book maybe (finally) gets published, it will have an incredibly short life on the bookshelves of "bricks-and-mortar" stores. In the end it becomes a lot like an ebook or a print-on-demand book. You can only obtain it by ordering it.

                        Of course, the most important consideration is whether you can turn your screenplay idea into a novel.

                        Screenplays and novels are very different. The main overlap that they share is dialogue. The dialogue needs to be good in both, and the difference in how you handle dialogue in the two genres is mainly in format. Of course, screenplays work better without long speeches, and you find some instances of long dialogue in novels, but even in a novel the dialogue can quickly become burdensome and boring if it is too long.

                        The great divide between the two genres is that the novel is much more complex and demanding. The usual response from screenwriters who become a little miffed at comments like this is that screenwriting is just as difficult but in a "different" way. They love to claim that some novelists have failed at screenwriting. I suppose that these novelists, whoever they were, did not possess the discipline to prune their material down to the essentials for presenting a story through dialogue and action.

                        These are novelists with flaws (probably due to laziness more than to anything else). Most novelists, if they have any interest in screenplays, can easily adapt to the constricted medium of film, because a novel already has the desired elements of a screenplay. Novels present actions and dialogue as part of a story (you hope that a story is there somewhere!). Consequently, writing a screenplay is an easy transition for a disciplined novelist, who approaches writing as a genuine art.

                        But when you look at it from the reversed perspective, that of a screenwriter who takes a notion to write a novel, the situation is quite different.

                        If you are a screenwriter, you may be able to write a novel if:
                        • You love language and the nuances of words.
                        • You have an excellent knowledge of grammar and style.
                          • First, you want the narrative and exposition to be grammatically correct - not talking about the characters' dialogue here.
                          • You feel the difference in a sentence if a phrase (like a prepositional phrase) is moved from one place to another in the sentence.
                          • You have learned economy of language: when to use complex sentences with subordinate clauses and when, by contrast, to use a simple sentence.
                        • You can explore character through exposition that you intertwine artfully with action and dialogue. You have to put it all together in a way that sounds nice, not awkward.
                        • You immediately see "rough spots" in other people's writing and you think about ways that you could improve these passages.
                        • You actually read novels. And not just for the story, but for the sentence styles and the structural presentation of the narrative.
                        • You have been developing your talent as a prose writer (i.e., short stories, essays, novels) for years. I cannot overstress how important this is. Novel writing is just like playing a musical instrument. You have to practice to get better. Novels possess a literary complexity that you do not see in screenplays. Novels require a command of narration and exposition. You have to combine these - narration and exposition - into all of that non-dialogue prose that you see in a novel. It is really a lot more difficult than what you do in a screenplay. The writing itself has to be more polished. It cannot be offered in a clumsy fashion with the excuse that "nobody in the audience ever knows what the writing is like, because film is a visual medium." And the whole matter of style is much more complex than what I have said about it here. A novel is a lot like a symphony: many voices and parts, and you have to put them together in a way that "sings" with beauty and meaning.
                        But you are not going to have the "chops" (as Jake put it) to write a novel if, as a screenwriter, you dismiss grammar and style as unimportant, "because they do not translate to the screen and, in any case, nobody cares."

                        If you are a good storyteller and you can write dialogue that sounds natural, you can write screenplays with that attitude. You can learn economy of scene presentation (how much to include, when to switch to another scene), and you can write screenplays. But novels require techniques and dynamics of a higher order.

                        Of course, some real hacks with little writing talent achieve success as novelists (Dan Brown, John Grisham), but they are rare exceptions, and their success generally rides on the back of a tremendously interesting story or taps into a social concern or phenomenon that has everyone's attention. You are not likely to be as lucky as these people.

                        So if you want to write a novel as a way to break into screenwriting, you may have to work at it all for longer than you thought.

                        (DISCLAIMER: The critical musings and the critical evaluations of any writers, appearing above, are strictly my opinions, and - who knows? - I could be entirely wrong. My best wishes to any and all hacks everywhere.)

                        "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

                          Wow. So much disdain for self-publishing in this thread!

                          Here's my story:

                          When my agent found out I was writing a novel, he tried to hook me up with a book agent at the NY branch of his company. After doing some research, I decided to reject the offer and go the self-publishing route anyway. Unless you're an A-list novelist, there's often more money in self-publishing.

                          There's also more control.

                          I was tired of waiting for reps and producers to push my projects forward. I wanted to write directly to my audience.

                          And I'm thrilled to say that it's been working well for me so far. My novel spent the last month on Amazon's Top 50 Horror list. Right up there with several Stephen King titles.

                          It's been an immensely fulfilling process. So much so that I'll continue to carve out time among my screenwriting projects so that I can write more novels.

                          I agree with what others have said, though. Don't write a novel as an attempt to break into screenwriting. Write a novel because you want to write a novel.
                          Last edited by Bunker; 06-28-2019, 11:28 AM.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

                            Bunker, I am really glad that you shared your experience with self-publishing.

                            Actually, I do not have any disdain for self-publishing at all. On the contrary, I think that self-publishing is one of the great achievements of our era. (By self-publishing, I am talking about ebooks, with maybe an option to obtain a print-on-demand hard copy. And, by the way, I am certainly not talking about "vanity publishers," those predatory companies that print your book in return for payment.)

                            If I ever write a novel, I will definitely offer it as an ebook. But I am not expecting to make money. For me, ebooks are an outlet for a serious author who has something substantial to offer.

                            Unfortunately, self-publishing has a dark side. Semi-literate people can turn out their crap and publish it, and it buries all the good stuff - and good stuff really does exist out there in the ebook world, as you know.

                            However, I am a polished writer, an expert editor, a software junkie, and someone who can prepare ebooks with competence. I do not need, nor do I want, some editor to go over my work before it can go to press a year or two later and then have a very short shelf life at Barnes & Noble. So I agree with you about the issue of control over your work.

                            Best of luck in your work!

                            "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Pilot vs Novel and the Author's Rights

                              I found it far easier to get an agent and a book deal with a major publisher (and I didn't even live in NYC) than it's been to even get a manager for a TV pilot in L.A., and I live in Hollywood. I suspect my (female) gender is working against me in Hollywood. For me getting a book published felt more merit-based, as in they were much more concerned with the voice and content, whereas TV writing feels like it's about who you know, age, gender. Just my $.02

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