Hollywood has gobbled up book rights during the pandemic. Here's why
LOS ANGELES — Author Rumaan Alam kept his expectations low, even as the film rights to his upcoming book "Leave the World Behind" became the center of a bidding contest among Hollywood studios this summer.
During two brisk weeks in July, the Brooklyn-based novelist kept interrupting his family vacation on Fire Island to field phone calls from agents, producers and executives. Sam Esmail, creator of USA Network's "Mr. Robot," was on board to direct a feature based on the socially conscious thriller. Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington had agreed to star and produce. Studios including Netflix, Apple and MGM were making offers.
Alam remained skeptical until that Monday when, while on the beach with his husband and two sons, he got the call from Michelle Weiner, head of Creative Artists Agency's books department, who was handling the auction, saying they'd scored a deal with Netflix.
"I was waiting for the day when Michelle's assistant would have to send me, like, a consolation bottle of Champagne," Alam said. "I was sitting there in the sand kind of dumbfounded."
The lickety-split deal-making for Alam's novel is just one example of a larger trend that has played out in the entertainment business during the COVID-19 pandemic: a surge in deals for studios to adapt books for film and TV.
With film and TV productions stalled, studios have gobbled up the rights to hundreds of novels and nonfiction tomes that they hope will underpin future hits.
Like housebound folks across the country, studio executives, filmmakers and actors have had far more time to read books. That newfound availability, coupled with streaming services' and media companies' insatiable appetite for fresh material, has led to a substantial uptick in sales, according to agents and producers.
CAA, for instance, has packaged and sold about 175 book titles for film and TV so far this year — about five times the agency's volume during the same period of time in 2019, the company said. Rival agencies, including WME and United Talent agency, also reported significant bumps.
