5 Novels That Sold Movie Rights Before They Were Even Published

Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly
Shetterly began work on Hidden Figures in 2010; the film rights were sold to William Morrow in early 2014, while she was still polishing the final draft. In fact, Shetterly was still working on the book while the film was being made, which is all kinds of unusual. The project wandered through a few studios as the producers—Shetterly among them—sought the right fit. You certainly can’t argue with results: not only has the book been a breakout bestseller, the film made box office bank and garnered major awards love. The combination of a relevant civil rights story, Shetterly’s scholarship, and the convergence of Hollywood talent made this gamble pay off big time.

The Hate U Give, by A.C. Thomas
Thomas’ novel, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, has been racking up buzz at an overwhelming rate. First, it sold at an auction in which no fewer than 13 publishing houses vied for right to publish it. Proving that buzz begets buzz, that scramble led directly to a heated competition the film rights, which were eventually sold (perhaps “awarded” is a better word) to Fox 2000, which quickly assembled a team to bring it to the screen, including actress Amandla Stenberg (known for her role as Rue in first film of The Hunger Games), director George Tillman Jr., and screenwriter Audrey Wells—all before the cover had even been designed. It’s easy to see why: the story demands to be told. It’s about a black high-school student—navigating between her outsider status in both her impoverished neighborhood and the tony prep school she attends—whose life is sent into chaos when police shoot an old friend dead right in front of her at a traffic stop. Books don’t get more timely, and the excitement around this debut just keeps growing.

The Martian, by Andy Weir
Weir’s crazy journey from disappointed wannabe author to huge success story is pretty well known, and this one’s a bit of a cheat. Weir posted The Martian to his blog as a serial, and later self-published it. It went on to rack up tens of thousands of sales, and a phenomenon was born. The fact that it sold print publishing and film rights simultaneously, therefore, isn’t much of a surprise. What is surprising is that Weir never left his house as the big money deals were signed: he hates to fly, and so he negotiated every single contract over the phone with people he’s never met. Of course, by the time he was making those calls, the book had already been proved a winner, so no one was being particularly psychic.

World War Z, by Max Brooks
Sometimes, selling the film rights quickly doesn’t mean the film will make it to the screen any time soon. Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company bought the film rights to Brooks’ zombie war classic in 2006, a few months before the book was actually published, because the actor had read an advanced copy and loved it—in fact, he outbid Leonardo DiCaprio to secure them (if you’re an author, that’s a sentence you dream of reading about your own book). The first screenplay written was tossed aside, however, as the difficulties in filming a story structured as a sprawling, global oral history became apparent. By the time four credited screenwriters were done and several years had passed, the end result was an over-budget action film that bore little resemblance to the novel—but it did perform well enough to inspire a sequel.

City on Fire, by Garth Risk Hallberg
Think back to the halcyon days of 2015, when it seemed like all anyone could discuss in terms of books was Hallberg’s City on Fire. Hallberg actually sold the film rights even before he’d even sold the book to a publisher, which has to be some sort of record. Also probably a record was the $2 million advance he received for a debut novel by a non-celebrity. The fate of the film is in severe doubt, however, and while Hallberg’s literary career is probably going to be fine, kids who might have to write reports on this doorstopper are going to have to wait a long time before there’s a movie they can download instead of reading it.