Interesting item in today’s Wall Street Journal about a deal between Random House publishers to invest $9 million into film releases by General Electric Co.’s Focus Features that are based on Random House books. The deal, which was made in 2005, calls for the release of 2-3 films annually based on any of Random House’s backlist of 33,000 titles. The first feature will be released this fall, Reservation Road, directed by Terry George and based on a novel by the same name that a Random House subsidiary published in 1998. Article says that paperback copies of the book now have gold labels on the cover saying, “First read the book, then see the movie.”
Random House figures the movie tie-ins will help sell books. A paperback, “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer,” jumped from annual sales of 13,000 copies to more than 100,000 copies after a movie by the same name was released in 2006. A biography of Marie Antoinette that was selling less than 10,000 copies annually jumped to sales in excess of 150,000 copies after the release last year of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. “Reservation Road” has sold about 60,000 copies in both hard- and soft-cover, so Random House is hoping for a big jump in sales.
What’s really interesting is that the deal lets Random House participate in picking screenwriters, directors, and actors for the films based on its books.
I have mixed feelings about that. On the positive side, I’m more likely to go see a movie based on a good book—a real book rather than a comic book, a comic strip, a defunct television series, or the remake of a classic film. And I figure the author or publisher of a book knows more about writing than does a movie producer and therefore will be more likely to pick a screenwriter capable of producing a good script.
On the other hand, what does a publishing house know about casting or directing a movie? Will the publishing house opt to pick established directors and actors with the more familiar names instead of an up-and-comer who is more hungry, more daring, and may make a better contribution to the film? Hollywood already is at the point where the “deal” of putting a movie together, with the money-men demanding this name-star and that hot-director regardless if they’re the best choices, is more important than the actual film produced. I can see where this might just lay another layer to “the deal”—this star, that director, this book.
Random House figures the movie tie-ins will help sell books. A paperback, “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer,” jumped from annual sales of 13,000 copies to more than 100,000 copies after a movie by the same name was released in 2006. A biography of Marie Antoinette that was selling less than 10,000 copies annually jumped to sales in excess of 150,000 copies after the release last year of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. “Reservation Road” has sold about 60,000 copies in both hard- and soft-cover, so Random House is hoping for a big jump in sales.
What’s really interesting is that the deal lets Random House participate in picking screenwriters, directors, and actors for the films based on its books.
I have mixed feelings about that. On the positive side, I’m more likely to go see a movie based on a good book—a real book rather than a comic book, a comic strip, a defunct television series, or the remake of a classic film. And I figure the author or publisher of a book knows more about writing than does a movie producer and therefore will be more likely to pick a screenwriter capable of producing a good script.
On the other hand, what does a publishing house know about casting or directing a movie? Will the publishing house opt to pick established directors and actors with the more familiar names instead of an up-and-comer who is more hungry, more daring, and may make a better contribution to the film? Hollywood already is at the point where the “deal” of putting a movie together, with the money-men demanding this name-star and that hot-director regardless if they’re the best choices, is more important than the actual film produced. I can see where this might just lay another layer to “the deal”—this star, that director, this book.