Getting the call from Hollywood

So, from time to time I get an email from someone talking about films. Often they're enthusiastic amateurs who want to do something with Prince of Thorns. Occasionally they're script writers interested in optioning the rights to a screenplay, and more frequently they're someone on the lower rungs of a media company whose job appears to be buying up the rights to lots of books for very little money just in case they make it big and then they become valuable.

Whited out below is a tale of more credible interest, but the bottom line is:

The Broken Empire trilogy is not optioned - I own the movie/TV rights ... make me an offer!  :) 

When I got an email from Wolfgang Hammer last year my first thoughts were, "cool name!" and "not another one..." in that order.

Then I googled him. He's the excutive behind Woman in Black, and more recently he found and developed House of Cards, which sold to Netflix, and as an internet-only release went on to earn 9 Emmy nominations!

So, no, not 'another one' ... someone who really can make things happen.

And he wanted to skype with me about his hopes for bringing the Broken Empire trilogy to the screen -- by starting with an experiment.

In a nutshell, Wolfgang wants reader (I still can't call them fans ... it just sounds wrong) involvement at every level. At the earliest stages this might mean canvasing readers on the various compromises/adjustments that are required to move from book to TV series. At a later stage it might involve readers voting on screen tests to influence the selection of actors for particular roles, or suggesting specific actors to invite for screen test. It could even run to reader art and design being included.

To facilitate this interaction some friends of Wolfgang's have created a space for collaborative creation that runs within Facebook, so that conversations can be held, polls taken, ideas and images shared.

So stage 1 of this process is to get a bunch of interested parties to come along and start engaging with the first questions to arise from the 'TV treatment' I've come up with (a document pitching the book as a TV series and laying out the content).

There are no promises here, but the process could potentially lead to seeing Jorg do his thing on a TV screen near you. Additionally it's a chance to see that process from the inside and to contribute.

So, if you're interested, click HERE and let's get going!