It's no secret that authors have a love-hate relationship with
Hollywood. The oft-repeated cliché that "the book was better than the
movie" holds true for more reasons than the average reader will ever
know. When asked about selling their book rights to Hollywood authors
like to joke that they drive their manuscripts to the border of Arizona
and California and toss them over the fence, driving back the way they
came at breakneck speed. This is probably because Hollywood just doesn't
"get it." Its vision for the film or TV series rarely seems to match the
vision of the author. And for those rare individuals who've had the
fortune of sitting across the desk from one of the myriad,
interchangeable development execs praising the brilliance of their work
while ticking off a never-ending list of notes for the rewrite, the pros
of pitching their work to Hollywood rarely outweigh the cons.
Stephen Jay Schwartz has sat on both sides of that desk--first as the
Director of Development for film director Wolfgang Petersen, then as a
screenwriter and author pitching his work to the film and television
industry. He's seen all sides of what is known in this small community
as "Development Hell." The process is both amusing and heartbreaking.
Most authors whose work contains a modicum of commercial potential
eventually find themselves in "the room" taking a shot at seeing their
creations re-visualized by agents, producers or development executives.
What they often discover is that their audience is younger and less
worldly as themselves. What passes for "story notes" is often a mishmash
of vaguely connected ideas intended to put the producer's personal stamp
on the project.
Hollywood Versus The Author is a collection of non-fiction anecdotes
by authors who've had the pleasure of experiencing the development room
firsthand--some who have successfully managed to straddle the two
worlds, seeing their works morph into the kinds of feature films and TV
shows that make them proud, and others who stepped blindsided into that
room after selling their first or second novels. All the stories in this
collection illustrate the great divide between the world of literature
and the big or small screen. They underscore the insanity of every crazy
thing you've ever heard about Hollywood. For insiders and outsiders
alike, Hollywood Versus The Author delivers the goods.
With contributions by Michael Connelly, Lawrence Block, Max Allan
Collins, Alan Jacobson, Andrew Kaplan, Tess Gerritsen, James Brown,
Peter James, Rob Roberge, Lee Goldberg, Naomi Hirahara, T. Jefferson
Parker, Diana Gould, Joshua Corin, and Alexandra Sokoloff
