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Message: <blockquote data-quote="tuxgeo" data-source="post: 5371418" data-attributes="member: 61026">Brilliant Genius Idea -- modest proposal -- Movie RightsThere it is: "revenue streams." That's the phrase that we needed in this thread. (No, not "book sales.") My sudden and (of course) ludicrously profound insight on this whole matter is that Wizards of the Coast needs the movie equivalent of a Harry Potter or a Lord of the Rings, but specifically one centered on the Nentir Vale and using D&D 4E mechanics.  Yes, that is an inordinately tall order. The problems are manifold, but the major one is just this: how could WotC obtain the movie rights to a work of fiction by someone with the lofty stature and writing talent of a Jo Rowling* or a J.R.R. Tolkien? *actually, let's skip the "lofty stature" part of that description, because Jo is rather short.First assumption: People such as those authors don't write as "work for hire" at six cents per word; instead, they retain the literary publishing rights of their own works for themselves; but they do sell the movie rights. Second assumption: The movie rights is where the real money is. OK, then: It's obvious, right? Wizards of the Coast should loosen up their novel publishing agenda: (a) Don't do it all in-house; (b) Allow anyone to use the default setting and rules descriptions in novels (subject, perhaps, to review for content, to keep the overall tone family-friendly); (c) Make the above two points subject to granting the movie rights to WotC. (Whatever the legal phrasing is.) So, overall: WotC should make it clear to potential authors that they can set their works in WotC's setting as long as it doesn't embarrass the brand, provided only that first they turn over the movie rights to WotC. That way, the authors get to keep their literary publishing rights; and WotC gets potential access to the movie rights of more books than they would otherwise. From there, it's just a matter of scanning the best-sellers lists: if something great comes out of it (probability greater than zero, but I don't know by how much), then WotC at least has the opportunity to cash in "big-time" at the box office.Second Thoughts Before Even Posting For The First Time: DO all of the publishing in-house, but explicitly don't make it work-for-hire: allow the authors to retain book rights in exchange for movie rights. That way, the review for content becomes automatic, and only stuff that is good enough gets published, possibly preventing market-gluts.</blockquote>

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