LogFAQs > #978887271

FortuneCookie posted...

I mean, Hollywood can badger people into writing or directing certain films. They straight up tell you when it comes to screenwriting to anticipate that your first screenplay is going to go on a shelf and that they will offer you whatever idea they have lying around. If you say no to that idea, you don't have a career.

Screenwriters have agents whose job is to get producers interested in the scripts. People don't go around giving ideas to screenwriters and forcing them to write them.

Sometimes writers with a proven track record are hired (I.e: offered a job) to work on existing scripts.

I know that being an author is different from being a screenwriter. But, should you end up working on a screenplay for a film adaptation of one of your stories, Hollywood can badger you into writing other screenplays.

It's not 'badgering' it's a job offer.

Did you know that Disney attempted to purchase the company that published Harry Potter after J.K. Rowling turned them down?

Rowling always retained her character rights.

I could see myself being in a position where they would be like, "I know your story has the potential to be the next Star Wars, but we're going to turn it into an eight-part Disney+ series about a 16-year-old girl who discovers she's from a family of werewolves. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200 million."

They can't do any of those things without your permission.

Disney is straight up scary. They're like the Empire from Star Wars (conquer everything) crossed with the Navi from Avatar (need nothing, can't be bargained with). They need nothing. They don't need the next big franchise for little girls, teenage boys, or grown adults. They don't need fairies or dinosaurs or robots. They have all that they could ever want or need. All they need is to get rid of the competition. They do buy and sell careers.

Given her transphobia, maybe it would have been better if Disney had purchased Rowling's soul and turned Harry Potter into a teacup ride based upon the sorting hat. But I don't want that happening to me.

I hope your fiction is as imaginative as this.

You're worrying about things that only happen to a handful of extremely successful authors, who are also powerful enough to tell Disney to go away if they feel like it.