25 - Optioning a novel, and the golden age of television

Feb 21, 2012

For their 25th podcast, John and Craig tackle listener questions.

How does a screenwriter option a novel he wants to adapt? John has optioned two novels one through a studio, and one on his own while Craig recently optioned his first. In each of these cases, we found the psychological aspects to be just as important as the legal ones.

When can a writer say he "wrote" a movie particularly if there are other credited writers? John and Craig disagree a bit here, with John trying to draw the distinction between "worked on" and "wrote."

Finally, should an aspiring writer focus on television or features? The answer from two feature writers may surprise you. Or not: television is pretty damn good these day.

Links:

• Finding out if a book has been optioned

• The Hero from Otherwhere by Jay Williams

• What's That Book?

• Big Fish, a Novel of Mythical Proportions by Daniel Wallace

• Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls

• How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely

• INTRO: The Gary Coleman Show opening credits

• OUTRO: I Wanna Dance with Somebody by Adrian Glynn

UPDATE 2-22-12: The transcript of this episode can be found here.