How Your Book Can Become a Hollywood Movie with Maggie Marr

Ferol Vernon (00:00.337)

all right.

Ferol Vernon (00:08.334)

All right, hello, and welcome to the Written Word Media Podcast. I am Ferol Vernon, and today I have a very exciting guest. I have Maggie Marr. Now, Maggie knows the entertainment industry. She is the author of over 25 books and a former Hollywood literary agent and the head of her own firm, Maggie Marr Legal, where she is an entertainment lawyer. So from every angle of entertainment, Maggie knows.

so I’m very excited to talk to her. Maggie, welcome to the show.

Maggie (00:39.19)

Thank you. Thank you for having me. It’s so nice of you.

Ferol Vernon (00:41.208)

Yes, very exciting. so Maggie, I want to get started with a story. What is the craziest Hollywood story you have for us? for the authors listening, like what celebrities have you run into? give us the gossip.

Maggie (00:57.32)

The gossip. well, I don’t know that there is much gossip. I think the craziest stories are probably stories that have to do when I was first a baby agent and getting to meet people that, you know, I’d seen on screen for so long. And that was really wonderful, right? To actually see them and then to talk to them about books, right? I remember having a conversation with Susan Sarandon when I was a first an agent, and that felt kind of surreal because I grew up watching her.

You know, I’m Gen X, so she was a big part of my the things that I had watched. So I I did very much love being able to be of service in that way and provide insight into books that the agency represented. Yeah.

Ferol Vernon (01:30.286)

Sure.

Ferol Vernon (01:42.318)

That’s amazing. Yeah. So our audience, Maggie, is authors and publishers, people that have written a book. And I don’t have the exact data in front of me, but I think roughly a hundred percent of them think that their book would make a great movie, right? Give or take. and so let’s say I’m one of those authors and I want my book to be in a movie and I want Ryan Gosling to star in it, and I want all of those things. What do I do and how do I make that happen for myself?

Maggie (01:56.629)

Right.

Maggie (02:04.47)

Okay.

Maggie (02:10.006)

So the best thing that an author can do is write the very best it sounds so cliche, but write the very best book that they absolutely can, right? Because I think that we have very little control over whether or not our books get made into film and TV. And when I say that it’s because there’s so many things that have to come together to actually have something become film or a TV show. one of the examples I like to use is that when we sit down to write a book

You know, we all know what we have to do. It’s you sit down, you make your fingers do the dance across the keyboard. If you lock in every day, say write a thousand words a day for fifty days, you’ll have a book. You’ll have something. Who knows what it is yet, but you’ll have something. Because it’s such a solitary sort of endeavor to write a book until you have a publisher or an editor. film and TV is completely different. It’s very collaborative, and the difference is that you’re taking something that took

one person to create and you’re crossing a bridge and there will be hundreds and perhaps thousands of people that actually work on it to get it to the screen, right? So it’s a very different sort of endeavor. so I think writing the best book that you can and continuing to try to be the best author and to put yourself out there, right? To to be able to make readers aware

Because executives, development executives, studio executives, they look for books the same way we do. They get recommendations from friends and family, they scroll on the internet, they look at bestseller lists, they’re always looking for material. so making your material the kind of material that pops out can be very helpful. Yeah.

Ferol Vernon (03:46.527)

Interesting.

Ferol Vernon (03:53.941)

Got it. And and what does that mean like from a marketing standpoint? You said development executives. Some of our listeners may know what that means, some of them don’t. Help us unpack that a little bit. Like what is a development executive? And when they’re looking at a book, you know, what does that process actually look like for for those listeners that aren’t familiar?

Maggie (04:05.161)

Right.

Maggie (04:10.759)

Right. So development executives work at both production companies and studios and streamers and it’s their job to develop materials so that it’s ready to go to screen, right? So oftentimes the first question that a development executive will ask an author is are the rights available? Because development executives have so much to read, both books or books, articles, as well as screenplays.

Then if the rights have already been optioned or under a shopping agreement, they’re probably not going to invest the time in reading the material because they know that somebody else already has it. So the first question is: are the rights available for film and TV? If the rights are available, then the next step is that usually the development executive will read the material and see if it fits with their mandate. What I mean when I say mandate is that every production company

Has sort of a mandate of the types of projects that they’re looking to find for their slate of projects. One of the things that often happens is that material can get passed on not because the material is good or not good, but because a production company or a studio or streamer already has something in development that is similarly situated to the book that they’re reading, right?

Perfect example, Shonda Rhimes, you know, has Bridgerton. It’s probably unlikely that she is going to also develop another series that is exactly similarly situated to Bridgerton. Now they may do spin-offs of the Bridgerton sort of world, but I I don’t know that they will option

and move into development on in something that is exactly or very similar to Bridgerton’s because they already have that slot sort of filled on their slate at that time.

Ferol Vernon (06:03.848)

Got it. And you mentioned this word optioning. You know, what what does that mean? ‘Cause you hear that a lot, like in pop culture, like the you know, the option for a movie, you know, that it that implies a few things, but like what does that actually mean for for an author who’s typically the rights holder?

Maggie (06:18.212)

Right, so it’s an option to buy is what it means, right? So when you negotiate with a studio streamer or production company and they provide you with an option, they’re saying, let me give you an example, they might say we want to option this for twenty thousand dollars for twelve months. And what they’re saying is that we will pay you twenty thousand dollars and for twelve months you will not sell the film and TV rights to anyone else. Right, because you’re you’re giving them time

to try to set up the project. So it’s an option to buy. And during the option period, the author can then no longer sell the film and TV rights to someone else. Yeah.

Ferol Vernon (06:54.419)

So but if I’m an author and I get approached or you know it’s lightning strikes or one of these things happen and I’m under that option agreement, can I still like write book two? Can I still write spin-offs of those characters? Or is the IP and the story kind of locked up during that option period?

Maggie (07:09.261)

No, so in most and I can never say categorically yes or no because there are different agreements, but as an author, the option will be with regards to the film and TV rights or the performance rights. So typically when you enter into a deal with a studio or a streamer for the purchase of your film and TV rights, there are certain rights that are reserved to the author and publication rights are reserved to the author.

Ferol Vernon (07:14.832)

Sure.

Ferol Vernon (07:36.774)

Got it. Okay, that makes sense. I want to talk about both authors and publishers because our audience is made up of both. but for authors and specifically indie authors, like how does Hollywood think about indie? You know, for a long time, there, you know, Hollywood didn’t really look at this content. In fact, nobody looked at this content. Now, you know, indie content’s having a moment, and we’re obviously super excited about that. but how does Hollywood think about that? Are they

Maggie (07:38.595)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Ferol Vernon (08:05.069)

Looking at indie content, do they care if it’s indie or not and they’re just looking for the next story? What are their thoughts? Yeah. Yeah.

Maggie (08:10.712)

They don’t care. Nobody cares who published the book. Nobody cares who published the book, right? Like it really is about how what is the content? Does it fit their slate? Does it have a big audience? Has it been super successful? Does it bring an audience to the project? it’s not ever been my experience. In fact, I’ve done a number of deals where the studio streamer never even knew that the book was independently published. So yeah, it’s not I

Ferol Vernon (08:36.641)

Interesting.

Maggie (08:38.657)

That’s not been my experience that it’s ever and I would say it’s it’s always been that way. I think that one of the challenges is is that as we know, the New York Times list is curated and highly gate kept in such a way that it makes it nearly impossible for independent authors to hit that list. And I can tell you that New York Times, USA Today, all of those lists are things that entertainment executives look at.

Ferol Vernon (08:52.932)

Yep.

Ferol Vernon (08:57.901)

Yes.

Maggie (09:04.224)

Right? Because  it’s proving it’s proving that that material resonates with an audience in book form. So if it’s resonating with an audience in book form, they then may want to make the leap that it will then resonate with an audience in film and TV as well. Yeah.

Ferol Vernon (09:05.101)

Right.

Ferol Vernon (09:21.911)

Got it. Okay. That makes sense. And so, but for the for the publishers listening or authors who have signed with the publisher, how does that typically work? Do publishers go out and solicit agents? Do agents come knocking? Like who makes the first move?

Maggie (09:28.619)

Yeah.

Maggie (09:37.389)

it depends. So traditionally big publishers do not retain film and TV rights. And I would assert that unless you are entering into an agreement with a publisher that has a history of being able to sell film and TV rights, that you as an author want to retain your film and TV rights. typically when a studio or streamer or a production company is interested to just

Ferol Vernon (09:39.766)

Yeah.

Maggie (10:06.187)

To find out whether or not the film and TV rights are available, they do a couple things. They might send an email to the agent of record saying, hey, we’re interested in this, or they might look at Rightscenter, which is free to authors and is a subscription that studios, streamers, and production companies have to take a look at. You can type into Rightscenter the name of a book, the name of an author, and it will pop up and tell you if it’s available. It will also pop up and tell you the contact information.

so Rightscenter is something that authors can do for themselves, you know, to put in their book titles. Yeah. Yeah.

Ferol Vernon (10:38.849)

That’s a yeah, that’s a great tip. And we’ll we’ll we’ll drop the link to all the things that Maggie’s talking about in the show notes. But for rights centers, that’s something authors have to pay for or not?

Maggie (10:47.88)

No, no, it’s free to authors, it’s studio streamers and producers that subscribe to it. The other thing that I will say to authors is that, you know, if you’re independent and say you don’t use an agent, anywhere that you have your books or promotions or your website, you know, you might want to put something that says for film and TV rights inquiries and an email address. Now

Ferol Vernon (10:50.305)

That’s really cool.

Maggie (11:11.737)

make it an email address that you’re willing to get spam on because you know, as when you put any email address out there, you’re gonna get spam, right? But if a development executive sees that, because I I do have clients that have that on their websites and they will get inquiries that way. And the other thing is is that I’ve seen a lot of scams lately. So you may want to assess whether it’s a true inquiry or it’s a it’s kind of a scammy inquiry. So

Ferol Vernon (11:15.466)

Ha ha ha.

Ferol Vernon (11:19.338)

Sure.

Ferol Vernon (11:30.399)

Yeah.

Ferol Vernon (11:38.196)

Yeah, and and we did a whole episode on scams because it’s really tragic trend that’s happening in our industry. But just to reiterate some of those things, Maggie, like how how can an author look out for those scams? Cause obviously, like, hey, you know, I want to make your book into a movie is something that like most authors out there are like, you know, kind of wishing to get an email like that. And so what are some of the hallmarks of like a scam email and and some of the ones where you’re like, this is a legitimate inquiry.

Maggie (11:42.46)

Yeah.

Maggie (11:56.542)

Yeah.

Maggie (12:03.642)

A couple of things. Well first of all, the thing that is so scary is that I’ve had two people in just like the past five days reach out to me and say, Is this real? And when I look at the email address, it will say something like Sony pictures or so but it’s not Sony’s email address, right? And I remember I reached out to Business Affairs at Sony and said, Hey, you know, just so you know, this is something that an author recently got and he sent me two links to one to the FBI. He’s like, You should

Ferol Vernon (12:33.511)

Whoa.

Maggie (12:33.532)

have them report this to the FBI. He goes, This is not real, it’s not true. And then I also saw a scam email that looked like it was from a talent agency, a legitimate talent agency. And they had actually set up a dummy website that was using the agency’s logo. I mean it was it was just obscene. So a couple things that you can look for one of them is if s if they ask you for money, right? If they say we

Ferol Vernon (12:51.486)

Cheese.

Maggie (13:00.369)

We just need you to pay for a pitch package or a script or something like that, and then we’ll be able to get you set up. That’s not how this industry works, right? So money should flow to the author, not away from the author. It’s the producer, it’s the studio, it’s the streamer. They are the individuals that pay for the script. They are the individuals that do the development. So you should not be paying any entity to develop those materials so that they can take it out and then pitch it, right?

Ferol Vernon (13:10.462)

Yeah, great tip.

Maggie (13:30.254)

Even if you have an agent or a manager, that individual is you may work with them to put the pitch materials together, but you’re not necessarily paying them to do that, right? So I think that’s really important. I saw a scam that was so long term, it was horrible. So somebody reached out to an author and said, We want to turn this into a film and film, but we need a script. And the author said, Well, I don’t write scripts. And they’re like, Okay, well, if you ever, if you ever get a s if you ever get a script,

Ferol Vernon (13:41.277)

Got it.

Ferol Vernon (13:55.664)

Right. All right, books.

Maggie (13:58.799)

We’d be happy to hear from you. Hung up the phone, fifteen minutes later, somebody called and said, Hey, we turn books into scripts. If you pay us fifteen thousand dollars, we’ll turn your book into a script. So that was like a long con, do you know? I mean it it’s but it really scares me when the email addresses are similar to a production company or a studio because it’s really hard, I think, for somebody outside of the industry to assess the legitimacy.

Ferol Vernon (14:07.622)

Yeah.

Maggie (14:28.947)

Of the inquiry. Yeah.

Ferol Vernon (14:29.062)

Yeah. Yeah. So I think, you know, good good tips. Like if somebody’s asking you for money, it’s probably a scam, right? That’s not, that’s not the way things work. So I’m glad we got that out. And then like, what are some of the interactions? You know, I think like for a lot of authors out there, like they’re imagining this, you know, you’re showing up at Hollywood Studio or like, how does this stuff actually, you know, go down between a development executive or or a producer or whoever it is that’s reaching out? Like,

Maggie (14:34.308)

Yeah.

Maggie (14:50.638)

Yeah.

Ferol Vernon (14:56.806)

I know I know every deal is different, everything looks different, but like roughly like how how does this work for those of us that that don’t know?

Maggie (14:58.626)

Right.

Maggie (15:02.69)

Right. So oftentimes like I said there’ll be a rights inquiry first and then an executive will read the material. If they think the material is a fit for their for their slate, then they may say to the author, Would love to have a Zoom or a call to discuss the possibility of the material. and this is an opportunity for both sides to kind of vet each other, right? So the studio and streamer is assessing whether or not the author’s nuts, right? I mean

Because let me give you an example. Not nuts, but impossible to work with. If an author comes in and says, I have to have final cut on this film. I’ve never met an author who has final cut on a film, right? I’m not saying that there isn’t one out there, and I’m not saying that there might not be someday, but that the only individual that gets final cut is usually the studio or streamer because they’re the ones paying for the project. There’s even a very small number of directors who get final cut.

Ferol Vernon (15:30.906)

Hmm.

Ferol Vernon (15:39.151)

Yeah.

Maggie (15:59.757)

They don’t even get final cut, right? Like it’s really up to the studio or streamer. So if a if a author says I have to have final cut, it has to be exactly the way I want it, before you can put it on the screen, I would say that probably the producer is gonna say, There is no way I can make that happen. And I know that this author is not going to enjoy this process. So I don’t think that this is a fit, right? It’s also an opportunity though for the author to assess the production company, the development executives, to have a conversation.

Ferol Vernon (16:00.004)

Yeah. Right.

Ferol Vernon (16:14.83)

Right.

Ferol Vernon (16:21.56)

Got

Maggie (16:29.492)

to better understand what their path to production is. That’s a question that I will often say to authors to ask. Ask them, what do you see as the path to production for my book? If it’s episodic, what showrunner do you have in mind? If you’re thinking about developing it for a feature, what are your thoughts? Do you have a screenplay writer in mind? Do you have a director in mind? You know, what is kind of your overall strategy to move the project forward? It’s a get to know you sort of experience.

Ferol Vernon (16:58.85)

Sure.

Maggie (16:58.907)

and you know the thing is is that you’re taking something that you love and have worked very, very hard on and you’re handing it off to someone else. So I feel like there has to be some semblance of trust there. Although I have spoken to authors who are like, My book remains. They can do whatever they need to do to get it to screen, right? Like my book will always be here. So it just depends I think on the mindset. Yeah.

Ferol Vernon (17:19.81)

Right. Yeah.

And so like what is it and you mentioned like asking for final cut or or having like sort of demands is not a good idea, but is there a reasonable level of creative control that an author can ask for? Or is a studio executive essentially looking for, you know, the rights to do whatever they want since like as you pointed out, they are paying and they are taking the risk and all that kind of stuff. but you know, is it even worth having that conversation or is it really just here’s the book?

Maggie (17:27.35)

Yeah.

Maggie (17:36.074)

Yeah.

Maggie (17:41.652)

Yeah.

Maggie (17:48.02)

Yeah. No, of course. I think so what I have noticed, I’ve been working in the entertainment industry for twenty five years now. And what I’ve noticed is that there’s been a shift, right? So when I first started working in the industry, it felt as though studio streamers and producers wanted less interaction with authors than they do now. I think that there’s been a discovery that authors can be a great asset to a project.

meaning that if the showrunner or the screenplay writer or the producer has questions about the world that the author has completed or or yes, created, who better to ask than the author, right? So one of the ways that you can get some creative control is to become an executive producer on a project. I think that that’s a great way also for an author to have another revenue stream in their deal.

If you can get an executive producer credit and fee, then at the very least you’re going to have the opportunity to read the script as it comes in. It’s more likely to get an EP credit and fee for an episodic than it is for a film. I think that for a feature film for feature film, I don’t know if there’s as much interaction between the author and the production team. It feels as though for episodic there’s been a move towards more interaction between

the author and the production team.

Ferol Vernon (19:16.374)

Okay, yeah, that makes sense. you mentioned the revenue and the EP stream a little bit. And I think a lot of people are like, hey, like, what does the finances look like for one of these deals, right? Like, do the authors get paid a fee? Do they get royalties? If the movie’s a hit, do they get more? If it’s not a hit, do they get less? How how does that typically work? And and like I said, again, all of my questions are with the caveat that I know the deals are different, but to get a general sense for the audience.

Maggie (19:24.74)

Okay.

Yeah.

Maggie (19:35.739)

Yeah.

Maggie (19:41.851)

Right, right. I think it it really depends on the type of film or episodic and the budget, right? That the the level of the budget that it’s going to be. I’ve seen purchase prices for films on television for as low as eleven thousand dollars and I’ve seen purchase prices for film and T V rights as high as two million dollars, right? So

Ferol Vernon (20:10.216)

And that’s just like one lump sum that they pay to the rights okay, got it.

Maggie (20:13.126)

That’s the purchase price. That’s the purchase price. Yeah. So if you’re doing an episodic series, then you’re gonna try to build in some other things. You’re gonna have your purchase price, then you’re also going to try to get the author an EP credit and fee. That will be negotiable. Usually they’ll come in with an offer at pay probably seven K per episode. I think that for an author, if you can get anywhere in the range of twenty to twenty five per episode, you’re doing a good job, especially if

that author doesn’t have any other credits, right? It’s their first time. and then you’re going to get a per episode royalty. You may also be able to get set up a setup bonus. You may also be able to get season different season bonuses because if you’re doing a episodic on a streamer right now, anything that gets to the fourth season or beyond is a hit, right? Because there’s not a lot of shows anymore that really go on streamers that go longer than four seasons. as far as a feature film, you’re gonna have your purchase price. You may be able to get them an additional credit other than the the author credit. and you might also be able to get if it’s independently financed, you could get a setup bonus possibly. All of these deals will have modified adjusted gross receipts or they’ll have back end participation or something like that.

Ferol Vernon (21:20.786)

Mm-hmm.

Maggie (21:36.347)

But I can tell you that as a representative of authors, it’s my goal to frontload all the money that can possibly be front loaded because Hollywood is notorious for nothing ever makes any money. Right? So unless you’re a gross profit participant, which there, like I said, there’s a I mean, there’s a handful of those in town. Very few people are gross profit participants. So unless you’re a gross profit participant, you’re not

ninety nine point nine percent you’re not going to see any of the back end on an episodic or a feature film. So it’s really important to negotiate those front numbers as much as you can. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Ferol Vernon (22:20.347)

Got it. Okay, cool. And if somebody gets an inquiry, right, and they’re going through this process and they need representation, obviously their best thing is to hire Maggie to help them out, right? But if they c if they can’t hire Maggie, you know, what kind of is it like is entertainment lawyer, is it an agent? Like who if you’re just somebody that sits in your room and writes and you you all of a sudden are find yourself in a Hollywood negotiations, you have no idea how to handle, like, who do you call to help you? What would you do?

Maggie (22:29.296)

Right.

Yeah.

Maggie (22:37.539)

Right.

Yeah.

Maggie (22:46.167)

Right. So if you have an agent who is agenting in New York for you, most likely that agent has some relationships with agents that work within the industry in film and TV, so they may be able to refer you to someone. the other thing is is that I it doesn’t like you said, it doesn’t ever have to be me, but I think that you would want to find an entertainment attorney that has dealt in moving books into the film and TV space. I

I I really think it’s important then when you when you’re dealing with your subsidiary and ancillary rights that you have someone look over your deals. Because I’ve seen the downside of that. I’ve gotten the email or the call saying I signed this agreement a long time ago, will you take a look at it? I don’t think it was beneficial to me and it absolutely wasn’t. And once you’ve signed something, it’s really can be nearly impossible to untangle that knot. So yeah.

Ferol Vernon (23:42.735)

Yeah. So so what are some of those things? like the misconceptions that authors have about this process? like, you know, what what are some of the things you’ve seen in those those deals that you’ve been like, I really wish you hadn’t signed that. What you what what should people look out for?

Maggie (23:58.765)

Right. So if a producer comes to you and they want to enter into an auction agreement or they want to enter into a shopping agreement, there could be something in there that says that they get to be attached to that material forever. That that even if you sell it to someone else, that they get to be participatory and and that’s not how it should be. there can be deals that I’ve seen where if they create something like a pitch deck or

something else that then even though the underlying option expires that they still get to utilize the material that they created and and it shouldn’t be that way either because since your book is the sort of the original seed of all of it, th those development materials should be frozen and not they should not produce should be able to capitalize on those development materials. anything that would attach somebody in perpetuity or things that

kind of kick the can down the road, right? So you’ll see agreements that say, okay, so the option is for 12 months, but if we attach someone to it, we can keep it as long as that attachment is a part of the project. And when I say attachment, it could be an actor or a director or someone like that. And that’s not okay because you could get an attachment letter from a director. And in theory, then that

producer gets to keep the material, the book, for as long as that director is interested in the project, which could be five years, 10 years, 15 years. You really, I think, want to have defined parameters as to when the material will come back to you.

Ferol Vernon (25:28.34)

Okay, that makes sense. throughout our conversation, Maggie, you’ve mentioned studios and streamers, right? Those two terms. And I think those of us you also mentioned Gen X, right? I’m right on the borderline there. But like we remember a time where there, you know, Netflix ships CD CDs and DVDs to people. So what has changed both like in this move to where streamers are now, you know, legitimate, potentially at least from a consumer standpoint, the number one way that you watch TV and and movies.

Maggie (25:35.732)

Yeah.

Maggie (25:40.681)

Yeah.

Maggie (25:44.267)

Yeah, absolutely.

Maggie (25:55.753)

Yeah.

Ferol Vernon (25:57.552)

and then also in this era of AI, you know, like what has changed, you know, you’ve been at this a long time, like you know, w what’s new and what’s changing with all these different things going on in the entertainment industry.

Maggie (26:03.947)

Yeah.

Maggie (26:09.95)

Right. So what I do love about streamers is that I feel like it’s opened up a whole whole new world, right? I I feel like I I’m not sure if this is an accurate assessment because I’ve never crunched the numbers, but it feels like there’s more opportunity for varying types of entertainment than when it was just broadcast and feature film that sh that was shown in theaters. I it feels like that to me, that there’s much more out there to view and to to look at and to watch as someone. you know

The majority of studios have a streaming outlet. I think Sony is really the only one left that doesn’t have its own streamer. different studios don’t necessarily have to sell to their streamer. example, you’ll see Warner Brothers studio materials on say Netflix, right? and then what was the second half of the question? I’m sorry. Yeah. AI. Yeah.

Ferol Vernon (27:03.624)

I think like, you know, with AI, it’s like a hot topic in in you know, and that’s really like the last year or two, like what has that done to film and TV and you know, specifically has that changed anything about how authors are, you know, getting signed or not getting signed, or are things largely the same as they were a few years ago?

Maggie (27:21.992)

I’m not sure if it has changed anything. I I’m not sure if development executives are using AI to try to find material. I don’t know. I know that the WGA has some pretty strict guidelines around AI. I know that so far it’s been my experience that so far the material that I see that’s written by humans is still much better than the material that

feels like it may have been written by AI. So

Ferol Vernon (27:53.747)

Yeah. Got it. Okay. Great. And then you know, you mentioned a little bit earlier and and throughout the conversation this idea of slate, right? Like that a that a development executive has like a body of content that they’re looking, they’re out there hunting for. Wha what are what is that right now? Like what’s popular right now? What are people looking for? Like what kinds of books? And maybe it’s a genre or trope or whatever, but what is what’s the industry looking for?

Maggie (28:02.588)

Yeah.

Maggie (28:12.092)

Right.

Maggie (28:19.044)

Right. Well, and I think that it can be dependent upon the production company itself, right? Because every production company kind of has its own unique flavor, its own unique vibe, right? So they if a production company has an overall deal with a studio, then that studio and that production company, the studio has provided them with a mandate of things that they want that production company to be looking for to try to develop so that they can be on the studio or streamers platform.

So it really depends, I guess. But some of the things that, you know, seem to be very popular right now are domestic thrillers, thrillers. I’ve seen a number of sales in sort of the romanticy genre. I think action is always but action can be very expensive and kind of challenging. You have to have the right attachments oftentimes to get an action project off the ground. I feel as though romantic comedy

Ferol Vernon (29:02.44)

Sure.

Maggie (29:17.81)

because of the fact that there’ve been studies that show that, you know, 80% of the time women control the remote in the home. So I feel like romantic comedy is one of those areas that really lends itself to studio and streaming. Some evergreen areas are Christmas movies or evergreen, although those really, you know right, because when you have Hallmark does what, 50 or 60 of them a year and then Netflix does a ozen and

Ferol Vernon (29:39.291)

Really?

Maggie (29:47.587)

you know, lifetime puts them on as well. So there’s always a yearly market for for Christmas projects. and then, you know, when you write something that is unique and different and kind of on the front edge of where the industry is going, oftentimes you’ll hit a list and it will become a big sort of buzzy thing, right? So there’ve been a lot of deals in romanticy, there’ve been a lot of deals in

Thriller and now we’re starting to see deals in dystopian because I think dystopian may be the next sort of wave of genre.

Ferol Vernon (30:24.496)

Got it. And like would you recommend authors using some of this advice and then writing into that? Or is it really more, you know, the executives want what the executives want and you can’t really predict that. So write, you know, write what you like to write.

Maggie (30:38.605)

think the second one. I think that it’s really tough to predict and l so if you’ve had several projects optioned or made, then you may have relationships with executives and producers and studios that allow you to kind of assess with them what type of material they’re looking for. But I think a general author who’s out there in the world, the idea of being able to predict what will sell in film and TV is

next to impossible. I really I love I think that writing to market to be able to make money is important because I think making money as an author is important. But and if you’re that type type of writer, that’s fantastic. But writing to market for publishing is a different idea than writing to market to try to make something sell in the film and TV space. Yeah.

Ferol Vernon (31:32.832)

1. Yeah, that makes a ton of sense. okay, Maggie, so like to kind of take what we’ve talked about and build it into like a little mini punch list for an author, you know, what what are like the two or three things that an author should do if they’re like, hey, I’m interested in this and I, you know, I know that I can’t force lightning to strike me, but I can be prepared when luck comes knocking. What are the two or three things that they should make sure they should do to be prepared?

Maggie (31:40.472)

Yeah.

Maggie (31:48.545)

Yeah.

Maggie (31:53.41)

Mm-hmm.

Maggie (31:57.566)

Right. So I think that it’s important to continue to write the very best books that you can. I think that it’s important to be aware of the film and TV industry, to know that if you get an inquiry that you want to if you get an inquiry, are the film and TV rights available, then you want to respond, yes, the film and TV rights are available. I think have a website have a your an email address about film and TV inquiries somewhere on your website.

Or maybe if you have Shopify somewhere there. Do you know just make it so that if somebody is interested in inquiring about the film and TV rights to your work that they can find a way to do that?

Ferol Vernon (32:38.275)

That’s great advice. So be be be prepared. Make sure that if somebody wants it, it’s clear they can get it.

Maggie (32:41.186)

Right.

Yeah.

Ferol Vernon (32:46.507)

Awesome. Okay. So at Written Word Media, we’re about optimism, right? And we want to we’re very excited about the future, especially the future of authors and creatives in the world. So, you know, as we kind of close the show, what are you thinking about? Like what what words of advice or optimistic words can you give our listeners about the world of film and and TV and and how it fits with their books?

Maggie (33:08.982)

yeah. Film and TV is fantastic, right? Like and the other thing is that for in my opinion, the best films and the best TV shows are based on books. And I think that’s proven out by when you take a look at how many TV shows and how many films are based on books. So know that there is a market there. There’s always going to be a market there. And I think the one way that you can try to optimize your ability to break into that market is to write

Ferol Vernon (33:25.377)

Yeah.

Maggie (33:35.646)

the very best book that you can and also to develop a relationship with your readership, you know, because as your readership grows, your visibility will grow. And as your visibility, as the visibility of you and your books grows, then it’s more likely that somebody will find your books in film and TV and think, this is something that we need to read or this is something that we think would have value in the film and TV space.

Ferol Vernon (34:02.37)

Amazing. I love that. okay, so Maggie, thank you so much for being here today. If folks want to learn more about what you’re doing, and in the world of Maggie, what should they do?

Maggie (34:05.034)

Yeah. Yeah, of course.

Maggie (34:13.797)

well you can always go to my website. you can always email me if you have questions about anything. I I never charge people to answer questions about anything. and then I I also wrote a book about books to film and TV, What Every Author Should Know, which I think gives a good overview about the industry because the reason I wrote it was because I couldn’t find any other resource out there and I was spending a lot of time talking to authors about how books move into the film and TV space, and it was one of my good friends.

Theodora Taylor said to me, You should put this in a book. Just write it in a book, how things move into the film and TV space. So so there’s that as a resource as well. Because authors are nothing if not readers and people who want to understand as much as possible. So yeah.

Ferol Vernon (34:55.018)

There you go.

Amazing. All right. Well, Maggie, thank you again for sharing your wisdom and your expertise in the world of Hollywood with us here. writers, you’ve got some some to dos there from Maggie if you want to get your book signed. and thank you so much for listening and that’s it. That’s the pod. Go write something.

Maggie (35:00.35)

Yeah.

Maggie (35:17.075)

Thank you.