Lights. Camera. Option!
Monday, October 25, 2010 
It’s semi-official. Hotel on the Corner of You Know What has been optioned for film. I can’t say who the players are until the ink is dry, but I can say that I’m very excited by the team involved.
I had other offers from some truly fine filmmakers, but this group seems to have the best blend of vision, energy, experience, and integrity. (By that I mean, I don’t think Henry Lee will be recast as a white kid played by Justin Bieber—that kind of thing).
Now before you get too excited, it’s important to remember that this is just the option and a fair number of books get optioned and are never made—but it’s a start.
And in case you’re wondering, I thought I’d answer a few questions that regularly come up during book events, such as:
Will they let you write the screenplay? The answers is: noooooo. Since the story doesn't have any obvious roles for Tom Cruise, they need an experienced screenwriter to help secure financing—and that would not be yours truly. I’d be happy to help out in any way I could, from promoting their efforts, to being a consultant, or just tagging along in meetings, but honestly, they don’t need me and I might get in the way. Besides, I have other books to write.
Will they keep the title? I don’t know on this one. I would assume so, but one never knows. Hollywood is weird. A gritty, political screenplay entitled Cuba Mine, about one woman’s experiences during the Cuban revolution, somehow morphed into Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights, so you never know.
How do options work? Good question. Basically an option is just that—the rights to act upon something for a limited amount of time. There are typically two option periods that run eighteen months each. This gives the producers a window of time to do what they need to do to get the production off the ground. And anyone can option a story. Heck, I know a book group that fell in love with a novel and optioned it.
How does it feel? Weird, but hopeful. Selling the film rights is like selling your baby to the circus. You might walk into the Big Top and see your progeny in the spotlight, swinging through the air on a flying trapeze. Or you might be ushered into the Freakshow where they’re biting the heads off of chickens. But I’m an optimist. And I wouldn’t have optioned the book unless I felt it had a shot and was in good hands. As they say in Latin: spero meliora—I hope for better things.
Reader Comments (17)
LOL. Aww, you don't think that would work?
(For the record, if that happened, I would gag.)
Also lol to the Cuba Mine/Havana Nights story!! I might be a bit biased, as a huge dancing fan, but I actually liked DD2... for whatever that's worth.
Anyhoot, congrats again!! I really hope things pan out and HOTEL comes to the big screen. It's a beautiful story that deserves to reach as large an audience as possible. :)
(And sorry about the seizure-inducing gif).