Selling an Option for Film

Before I could publicly announce it yet—while the lawyers on both sides were negotiating the contract—I told my blog buddies here in confidence that I was in the process of selling an option on a story I’d written for the purposes of making a film from it. At that time I was asked and agreed to write a post about that process when I could. So here it is.

My short story, “The Good Neighbor,” was published in Kansas City Noir by Akashic Books as part of their famed international “noir” series. There it was read by someone with extensive experience in the movie business and past successes in Hollywood. He contacted me about the possibility of making a film out of my story. This person, Mitch Brian,  and I have taught at the same writers conference, and I’ve sat in on his classes and been quite impressed with him, so I took it quite seriously from the beginning—and I might well not have if I hadn’t developed some real respect for him. I was inclined to agree right away because I felt he would respect the characters and stay true to the story within the constraints of dramatic writing for film, which has different demands than a work for the page.

I didn’t realize how successful he had been until my kids looked him up and told me. What sold me on the idea of signing over rights was a long talk we had about what Brian intended for the screenplay and the realization that the very things that drew him to the story were the things I cared most about keeping intact. We even walked the neighborhood in which the story is set, so he could see the setting. It was at that meeting that we came to the real agreement, but it took many weeks of his people in Hollywood and his lawyers drawing up a contract and my agent and the agency lawyers looking for problems and suggesting changes.

Eventually, however, all was arranged successfully, and the company Cerberus Limited had an option on my story with Brian committed to write the screenplay. That—the screenplay writing—began in January. I know the chances of this option turning into an actual movie are slim, based on the reality of film options. But I also believe that, if the film is finally made, it will stay true to the story and the characters, and that’s what matters most to me. Daniel Woodrell turned down big studios who wanted to do Winter’s Bone. Instead he gave the rights for very little upfront cash to a small woman-owned company who stayed true to his vision and finally got the money to make the Oscar-nominated movie. I feel I’ve made a similar choice.

So that’s the story of the film option, not nearly as glamorous as people might think, but something I’m very excited about. If it actually comes to be a film, I know it will be my vision on the screen and not a miserable mish-mash of commercial Hollywood tropes.