Simon & Schuster’s Children’s Publishing division has signed a deal with Hollywood management firm the Gotham Group to involve themselves more in the film end of books they hope to publish. They’ll start the new arrangement with a middle-grade book series by filmmaker David O. Russell, which is scheduled to be published in Autumn 2009.
While the deal will offer S&S a cut of film profits (as opposed to the usual “we’ll support the film and hope it translates into more book sales” methodology), division President and Publisher Rick Richter said the deal is “about having more control in the process. Typically publishers tend to stick their heads in the sand after the book hits Hollywood.” With this new arrangement, in exchange for a cut of the film revenues, S&S may agree to publish a book before it is even written, “based on an assurance from the Gotham Group that it has Hollywood potential,” according to the New York Times. The deal also covers video games, comic books, and other tie-in productions.
Gotham Group President/CEO Ellen Goldsmith-Vein said that in the past, “the big incentive for [publishers] is hoping to sell books. Now they’re going into this, and there is already planted the notion of film and television and some other form of media. And the two go hand in hand.”
Publishers Weekly adds that other publishers, notably Random House (with Focus Features) and HarperCollins (Sharp Independent), have had deals with Hollywood in the past, this one is different. “Whereas Random is confinancing films with Focus, S&S will not be investing money in production. Instead, because the house controls the material—the deal pertains only to works that S&S has the film rights for—it will share the revenue with Gotham. And, in a symbiotic relationship with Gotham, S&S will also turn certain projects from Gotham into books.” Thus, this new deal will require authors to sign over film rights with publication rights, something that authors and agents have been reluctant to do with adult titles (although PW notes it is more common with children’s books, which “is one reason why the partnership with Gotham is resting in Simon & Schuster’s children’s division.”).
Russell’s project, Alienated, is “centered on two children who work for an old tabloid that covers the world of freaks and aliens. I always liked the idea of playing with the idea of transformation and alien nature and freak nature. I just want it to be really fun and really funny and be really original.” Russell has produced several script drafts with co-writer Craig DiGregorio, based on an idea pitched by Goldsmith-Vein to Dark Horse.
Commenting on a similar relationship, Spiderwick Chronicles co-author Tony DiTerlizzi said “it was almost like a tool to get the book launched and off the ground. I knew also that financially this is where I would see my benefit: in having the film made.”