Question: What’s your take on the odds for independent books to get movie or TV deals versus the odds of books that are traditionally published? —Avanti
Jane: Personally, I think it’s tough unless you’re already making waves somehow with your book. Back in January, I published a piece on how book-to-film deals happen, featuring the expertise of Eddie Gamarra, VP of literary affairs for Paramount Global Kids & Family. When asked how an author can get their work “discovered” by Hollywood, he said authors can’t really engineer such discovery, especially since industry scouts do not take meetings with authors. Your best bet, he said, is to have a literary agent representing you. Aside from that? He advised, “The best way to be discovered is to be present. Be present in the trades. Be present at events. I encourage people to think about your title. Have a great title with a high concept, have a great cover. Hollywood thinks in visuals … where the audience gets the idea in 30 seconds or less.”
However, I reached out to Matt Joseph Misetich, partner at Pipeline Media Group, which runs contests for books, graphic novels, short stories, and plays that might be adapted for TV and film. (Winners receive development with executives and circulation to producers.) I told him my understanding is that, most of the time, you need an agent or manager (or some kind of representation) to get your material in front of the right people. Was that correct? Here’s what he said.
Matt Misetich: I don’t think it matters much as far as perception—indie vs traditional. It’s the bigger question of “How is the studio or producer going to find that book?” And usually that means they’re looking at traditionally published books by default. In the case of studios, it’s gonna be bestsellers or projects garnering a lot of buzz before they’re released.
So yes, I’d say you’re right—it has to be a platform like ours (which, to be honest, are few and far between), or you have a really well-connected literary agent, or you have a book-to-film agent who’s equally well connected. Or your book is a Reese’s pick, or it sells a billion copies, which … as you know, might be a little harder to pull off.
There are also a hundred different backdoors and random ways for books to get picked up. A brief example: A producer/manager friend of mine produced Infinite, and the story behind that one is a producer came across a copy of the self-published book at a hotel in Thailand or somewhere. And there was a note from the author on the inside that said “whoever can help me get a movie deal, I’ll give you X%.” He thought it was funny, started reading the book, loved it, brought it to this other producer, who attached his writer-client to adapt, they got Antoine Fuqua on board to direct. And yadda yadda, it gets made.
Biggest takeaway: It’s the Wild West out here when it comes to how books get discovered by Hollywood. But yes, you need someone out there scouting for new stuff and someone to proactively champion that author. Whether it’s through a contest, a (legitimate) book-to-film agent, or otherwise.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
