Have you ever wondered how books get turned into films or TV shows? I didn’t know much about this process until my debut YA novel Thin Air came out last fall in 2023. I’m certainly no expert, but in case you’re curious, here’s what I’ve learned so far.
1. Whether or not you maintain the film rights depends on your book contract.
This is one of the many items your agent will help negotiate after you receive an offer from a publisher. In the case of my adult romantic suspense books, Harlequin owns the film rights and gives a share of the royalties to the author. They make any decisions about film projects without having to consult the author; in fact, one author I know learned her book was being made into a movie after the filming had already wrapped up! For my YA book, we retained the film rights.
2. You need a film agent to represent your book.
When my literary agent first sent the book on submission in 2021, she also sent it to a film agent. Some big literary agencies might have in-house film agents, but hers doesn’t, so she regularly works with specific film agents for her clients. Her hope was that having a film agent on board would encourage interest from editors, especially since we had an offer from a publishing imprint within the first week.
The film agent loved the story and agreed to represent it. We circled around with various editors for about two weeks until we accepted the best offer. I can’t say for sure that having a film agent on board helped nudge editors to make an offer, but it definitely didn’t hurt!
3. Your book deal announcement might generate interest from the film industry.
Of course, this will depend on the timing of the announcement and plenty of other factors. In my case, we signed the contract with my publisher in the summer of 2021, but my film agent didn’t want to pitch the story until we had an official first draft, and my editor was gone on maternity leave. When she came back, we started the first round of developmental edits but also decided to put out the deal announcement in Publishers Marketplace and PW Children’s.
This official announcement launched my book’s premise into the public eye, and we received requests almost right away from various members of the film industry asking to read the first draft. Depending on who is looking for your type of book, that might include small independent producers, creative executives at larger companies, or even VPs from major groups like Netflix or Nickelodeon.
Now, the problem in my case was that we didn’t have a first draft to send. Not for many months, because the book needed two rounds of developmental edits, and in the middle of that process I lost my editor and we had to wait several more months on a new one. In fact, it took over a full year before we had a draft for my film agent to send out. In hindsight, if I’d realized that my deal announcement would be the first time Hollywood learned about my book, I would’ve pushed to wait on making the announcement until we were closer to having that sharable draft in hand.
4. Film producers usually option the rights rather than buy them outright.
It’s almost like a film producer is “leasing” the rights for a certain amount of time. Many, many people are involved in bringing a book to the big or even small screen: producers, screenwriters, showrunners, directors, financial backers, a distributor, and, of course, actors. Getting all these people on board with a project takes time; paying them is expensive. When a production company sees great potential in a concept, they’ll pay the author an agreed-upon amount for a specified amount of time to retain the option to turn the book into a movie or TV show. Usually the monetary amount isn’t much, since the movie or show only makes money after it’s made. In some cases, a producer might love the book but not have the financial backing to option the rights unless they can get a distributor (like Netflix) on board right at the start.
5. The film industry is notoriously unpredictable.
A lot can happen in a year. Or any span of time, when it comes to the film world. By the time my film agent was ready to pitch, the impending screenwriters’ strike was looming large over the industry. Many of the groups that had originally expressed interest weren’t in a position to pursue the concept. We had a meeting with one group, but they couldn’t offer an option without securing a distributor first, and they ran out of time before the strike.
Sometimes a screenwriter will come on board, and they’ll write the pilot episode for a show—maybe it’ll even get filmed—but no one will pick it up for distribution. Sometimes (as we all know and lament) the show does get picked up but then it’s cancelled for no apparent reason. More often, though, a book is optioned but never actually made it into a film or TV show because one or more pieces didn’t fall into place.
6. Despite the terrible odds, the process is still fun.
While we still haven’t found the right fit to option the rights for Thin Air, I’ve found the process to be a lot more fun now that I understand it better. Another producer contacted my film agent just a few months ago, and my literary agent and I hopped on a call to talk with them. Both of the calls I’ve done have been lovely—there’s something truly special about getting to hear other creatives’ ideas for taking your work and bringing it to a new audience in a new way. I was far less nervous the second time around, too, because I had a much better idea of what to expect. They wanted to hear from me about why I wrote the book, what I envisioned in thinking about bringing it to the screen, and ways I might be interested in being involved.
In the end, they weren’t able to move forward with the project because it was a little too far outside of their scope, but I value the experience of meeting with them. And my film agent will keep working behind the scenes, pitching my book’s concept until we find the right fit. If that doesn’t happen, that’s okay, too. I’m not done writing, and there’s always the next book. 😉
~ Kellie