How The Maze Runner points to a new direction in film adaptations
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Version 0 of 1. “Twenty years ago,” says Eddie Gamarra, “if a book hit the New York Times bestseller list it got optioned for a lot of money.” Times have changed. Yet one genre is increasingly catnip for Hollywood studios eager for a slice of the franchise pie: Young Adult. Gamarra and his partner Lee Stollman operate out of the Gotham Group in Los Angeles. They’re leaders of a new pack of literary agents cum big budget movie producers. And at the moment they’re coasting on their biggest success yet: The Maze Runner, which has currently taken $225m at the global box office, with sequels already greenlit. It was Gamarra who first signed author James Dashner back in 2008, already with one eye on the big screen. He and Stollman - head of Gotham’s live-action wing - have had their hands in the whole transfer process. “Nowadays folks such as myself have to do a lot of heavy lifting in terms of packaging. We’re functioning more as producers than ever before; we are required to find a director, a star and financing. It’s a huge change but development dollars are scarce and the studios need to be presented with something they can see clearly.” The pair now have more than 40 projects in development; their secret, they say, is simple faith in original source material (albeit that with brand potential). “It goes back to old school Hollywood,” says Stollman, “which is the idea is the star and that the source material is the jumping off point. There’s a statistic that says less than 2% of all screenplays written get produced. Most movies are re-treads of TV shows or old movies, or what we like to do is to scour the earth for great source material.” The more that they can pre-invest in such material, the more attractive it is for prospective studio buyers. “If you have a book that has a billion readership and sold internationally, that’s a pretty large existing platform for a film studio or financier to build a new film franchise on,” continues Stollman. “If it’s a small obscure title that five people have read, it’s going to be more challenging. That doesn’t mean the story is any less significant but studios are looking for an easier road to travel. If they can see that some level of financial investment has been made by someone else, their decision becomes easier.” Adds Gamarra: “Thirty years ago I got beat up because I started a comic book collectors club in my high school, and now everybody wants a big comic book franchise. The embracing of nerd culture has been astronomical but if you really look at it, Batman, the Lone Ranger, the Phantom, the Shadow, Superman, all of these have been exploited across media from the very beginning of radio, film and television. This cross-platform thing isn’t new; the sea change is that these brands can play across all countries, all ages and across all media.” Self-publishing has widened the pool of authors enormously; small wonder publishers and agents are scouring online publishing platforms for new talent (Anna Todd, 25, from Texas was signed to Simon & Schuster after her One Direction fan fiction got 800m views on Wattpad). Being able to immediately gauge both public appetite - and an author’s savvy with social media - is invaluable. Yet the glut of YA movie transfers has included some flops as well as hits - The Giver was a casualty this year, The Host in 2013. “Eddie and I take 20 or 30 meetings a week,” says Stollman, “and everyone asks us, ‘What’s the great next franchise?’ If we had a crystal ball we could answer them but the truth is that we hustle and work just as hard as everyone else. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose – there’s no science to it.” “A unique aspect of adapting YA is that your protagonists grow up quickly,” explains Gamarra. “A lot of these kids are in their early 20s and it’s very hard to make multiple stories in a franchise like this when your lead character is 35 and he’s playing 24. You have to make decisions quickly. “From finding the book to getting it adapted, sold, made and then for the audience to receive it so well, is a series of miracles. It truly is nothing short of stupendous how thrilling all of this is. You just dream that every day will be like this.” The Maze Runner is unlikely to be a blip. Yet the pair are aware of their good fortune. “What Eddie is describing is not the norm. Typically, we run around wearing flak jackets and ducking for cover, kind of wondering where the assassins are who are lying in wait to take us down. In this instance the movie gods were shining on us from the beginning.” • The Maze Runner is on general release |