It's possible he sold the movie rights for a set amount without any mention of what happens if the movie actually gets made, et cetera. Or else it's one of those movies where on paper it's a big loss for the studio "somehow" with creative accounting.
I know Mark Sumner from my workshopping days. His book series got optioned for a pilot and he got paid a royalty. Then the series got picked up for a (mercifully, it wasn't well made) brief series on the SciFi Channel... and he got bupkis. Why? Because his contract was for "broadcast channels" which his agent didn't know only included ABC, CBS, etc.
I think the most annoying thing was, the royalties would have only amounted to like $1k-2K per episode. Still, it would have been found money and he could have put it in his kids' college fund. And in the budgeting of a TV cable series, that's still small change.
The movie rights were sold years ago, back in 1998 I believe, before there was any inclination it was going to be a big Hollywood film - he thought it was going to be an independent fair. However, things got changed around about 4 times and it ended up having Christopher Nolan and his brother came on board, which made it become a wide release, obviously.
It's okay, I've told him that the next book he writes should be about two brothers who direct movies for the devil. I'm not sure he'll take me up on the idea, though. (And if he does I totally want $2k per scene royalties).
The worst thing from the situation, to be honest, is that the distributors or producers didn't actually invite him to any of the screenings of the movie. I ended up getting him multimedia press tickets myself, and sent him with those.
8 1/2 Mile (which really made my day)
Genius!
I think those Zombies were from 28 Days. They were moving pretty quick for Romero zombies.
Still you can't argue with: "John! Paul! George! Ringo! Zombies!"
I think those Zombies were from 28 Days.
Because they were hungover?
Because they were hungover?
Heh. No because you could see their cheekbones like Viggo.
BTW, Hec, thanks for recommending the "Out of the Past" podcasts awhile back. I need to really amp up the section on noir in my book and they have been quite interesting. I wish they would dissect the films more though.
Those were awesome, Corwood.
BTW, Hec, thanks for recommending the "Out of the Past" podcasts awhile back. I need to really amp up the section on noir in my book and they have been quite interesting. I wish they would dissect the films more though.
You're welcome! Kind of depends on the film. Some of them do generate a real close analysis. Though I tend to hew to the theory that Noir was a cycle rather than a genre, and they definitely see it as a genre.
