Udder Randomness

[DollyKim]

The TV movie version of The Shining is more acceptable in Stephen King's eyes. Now the good thing with You Tube and streaming/direct to DVD is you can do your own movies. There are film students in Hollywood that would beg to be part of something just for the experience and they'd do a good job. Get enough qualified McCaffrey fans together and see what they could do.

One of my screen plays could be done with proper filming equipment, money for Chris because he's worth it, and money for period costumes. If I knew what I was doing on the production end I could go to one of those funding sites but I don't :/

[Stormlight]

I watched Blood and Chocolate a few years back. It was a travesty. They changed EVERYTHING. Plot, setting, characters ... the ONLY things that remained the same were the names and the title. I think Annette Curtis Klause should have made them add a disclaimer: "The author of the novel would like to apologize in advance for the utter crap you are about to watch, and promises she had absolutely no say in anything involving this movie."

I shudder to think what they might've done to The Silver Kiss if they got their claws into it. I wonder if after THAT joke of a movie, she refused to sell them her other books.

On the other hand ... I watched the first (and second) Twilight movies. IMO, anything made from any of S. Myer's books can only be an improvement. Still laughable, of course, but at least I didn't want to throw it across the room due to the utter horror of her writing. Just the utter horror of Stewart's and Patterson's acting.

[Kae915]

I actually kinda liked new moon though, it was my favorite of her twilight series and only one I actually cared for. I feel like that was the only one she got super emotionally descriptive and that is why I appreciate it. I really didn't care for the movie though =/ I feel like they could have emphasized on the emotions a little more, but then again, it was Kristen Stewert... Not much emotion they could have played through with her lol
Something else that bothers me about the movies, Stephanie actually somewhat helped in the production of at least Twilight and they tried to make sure she liked what was happening with her movie. If I were her, I would have immediately disappointed in the main two characters of her cast and would have immediately made them change it

[victoriavictrix]

I remember Anne McCaffrey making a comment at Dragon*Con several years back that she would never sell the rights to the Pern books without having control over the finished product. Something along the lines of not wanting to have her dragons attacking modern day Los Angeles....

Movie rights were sold. Evidently the money was more appealing than control. I suspect that money was what financed her move and new home in Ireland.

From Wikipedia:

Prior to 1995, the motion picture and ancillary rights to the literary property were optioned by various entities, including Robert Mandell (for a cartoon series adaptation that was eventually redeveloped into Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders) and Kerry Skogland.

In 1996, McCaffrey sold the motion picture rights to an Irish company, Zyntopo Teoranta, who entered into a co-production agreement with Alliance Atlantis, covering development including advanced 3-D animation and compositing effects for television budgets. Distribution pre-sale efforts failed, and Zyntopo Teoranta entered into an agreement with Ronald D. Moore as showrunner to present the project to Warner Brothers Network.

In 2002, Warner Brothers Network and writer Ronald D. Moore had completed sets and casting for a pilot episode, and were within a few days of filming. Moore had sent the pilot episode to Warners for final approval. It was returned with so many changes to the basic structure of Pern – making it more like Buffy: The Vampire Slayer – that it no longer much resembled the world created by Anne McCaffrey. As a fan of the Dragonriders of Pern series, Moore refused to continue. Filming was canceled, and rights ownership remained with Zyntopo Teoranta's assign, Kua Media Corporation (Canada).[7]

In May 2006, it was announced that rights to the entire Dragonriders of Pern series were optioned by Oscar-winning production company Copperheart Entertainment.[8] Copperheart announced their intention to bring Pern to the big screen.

On 12 April 2011, Copperheart announced signing David Hayter as screenwriter and Don Murphy as executive producer for a film version of Dragonflight, with production expected to begin in 2012.

[victoriavictrix]

Something else that bothers me about the movies, Stephanie actually somewhat helped in the production of at least Twilight and they tried to make sure she liked what was happening with her movie. If I were her, I would have immediately disappointed in the main two characters of her cast and would have immediately made them change it

No matter how much control the publicity arm of the motion picture/tv studio SAYS they are "giving" the author, the bottom line is: zero. They might make some very tiny concessions, mostly to make the author THINK he has control, but in the end, control is in the hands of the studio, it is there in the contract, and no matter how incensed you might be about it, there is nothing you can do about it. Most authors just follow Isaac Asimov's advice: "Hold your nose, take the check, and cash it right away--if you can't bear to do that, don't sell the rights. There are thousands of other authors who would be happy to get your place in line."

Meyers had zero control over anything in the movie. She could have held her breath until she turned blue, or pulled an Ann Rice and told all her fans that she HATED the casting choices and the movies, and nothing would have happened. Unless, of course, the studio had a gag-clause in the contract (which I bet they do now after the Ann Rice kerfuffle) which forbids her from saying anything bad about the movies.

[knittnkitten]

the Prestige was the one movie I was glad was really different from the book. the book was AWFUL.

[Lamia of the Dark]

For some reason I keep imagining Lafayette singing Joanna's song from Sweeny Todd; you know the one that goes like "Green finch and Linnet Bird, nightingale, black bird, teach me how to siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing." He has a beautiful voice in my head, very mature but there's a speck of hidden childishness. Kind of somber but never outright and depressing. Just slightly dreary as if he was weighed down with too much too soon and is trying to act like more of an adult than he really is.

At least he isn't singing "Epiphany", right?

That's Tetty.

Hmm... and would two of them happen to be singing "A Little Priest" as well?

[Kirahfaye]

Interesting read, Misty - I can say for a fact that Anne made her statement much later than 1996. More like about 8 years ago... Granted I might not remember exactly what she said, but I know she was adamant about not allowing her books to be ruined by Hollywood. Even my husband said (without my prompting) that he remembered her saying something to that effect.

[kenaiqueen]

Wouldn't a set of Pern dolls be nice? Including maybe some ball-jointed dragons.

[victoriavictrix]

Interesting read, Misty - I can say for a fact that Anne made her statement much later than 1996. More like about 8 years ago... Granted I might not remember exactly what she said, but I know she was adamant about not allowing her books to be ruined by Hollywood. Even my husband said (without my prompting) that he remembered her saying something to that effect.

Facts are there in black and white. She sold the rights in 1996. Maybe she was just saying what the fans wanted to hear, or she must have been deluding herself about the amount of control she was going to have, or else it had been so long since she sold the rights that she had forgotten she'd sold them OR had thought they had reverted. Once a studio gets its claws into rights they almost never revert. The only way the rights ever reverted on Mists of Avalon ws because George C Scott, who personally bought them and hung onto them all his life, died.