November 12, 2015 
Stacey 
I have a few books I’m working on book-to-film deals at the moment, and for several years before I became an agent I worked in NYC in film and tv development. Which means I looked for books to be adapted into movies. So I guess you can say I got my start in books by reading to see what might translate to film. I still find I read this way, and relate to books that I can visualize as movies.
So I’ve been taking note of several recent book-to-film deals that have sort of interesting stories behind them. I’m fascinated that The Martian by Andy Weir, which was initially self-pubbed. This article from Variety.com talks about its path from publication to big screen. It’s nothing short of amazing! He had no luck attracting an agent or publisher so he self-published the book and it started to gain some momentum. Eventually, publishers and film companies started approaching him and very lucrative deals were signed. He has a deep fear of flying so never met any of the people he was doing business with. The way he describes it, it was all so surreal he actually thought it was a scam.
Then I saw another piece about a bestselling YA book, 13 Reasons Why, that is now going to be turned into a tv series for Netflix starring Selena Gomez. That’s interesting because the book was initially published back in 2007 and then became a bestseller in paperback in 2011. It’s taken years to get it from page to screen!
Finally, there’s the much hyped adaptation of the bestseller Room, which was adapted by the book author. She drafted the screenplay even before she knew it was going to be optioned and made for film. An interview from Publisher’s Weekly about that process you can find here.
To me they all have interesting back stories and histories and the takeaway is that you never really know what’s going to happen with your book, or when. In each of these cases you have examples where a book property started life as something else and then went on to become not only a published book, but a film or tv show after the fact, in the case of 13 Reasons Why, years after the fact. Keep on writing and working toward success in your endeavors. You never know when someone will find your book and turn it into something else. If you have any other fun book-to-film stories, please share them with us!
Hi Stacey,Would you be interested in taking a look at my book? Each chapter is written as a scene and would adapt to film.Sincerely,Susan ClarkTHE RELATIONSHIP RIDDLESparks fly as Vince, a commitment averse guy who foster-parents a young boy, and Belle, a divorced beauty with man-crazy tendencies, first meet. But will those sparks ignite? When Vince and his foster son find themselves in danger, surprising twists and turns take Vince and Belle�s involvement in an unexpected direction. http://tinyurl.com/ozsmjov
Hi Susan, thanks for your note. It’s a good question and while we are always open to considering queries, we do not generally represent film or tv rights to books which we have not sold. Once we sell a book, we will often try to place subsidiary and ancillary rights including film and tv, but not for books we do not otherwise represent. Best of luck with it and thanks for reading the blog!
Hi Stacey. I see that you worked in development where you would look for books to be adapted into movies. I would like to try and pursue a career in this area. I was wondering if you would be able to tell me how I would go about making that happen. What college courses/degrees would be helpful? What does the job entail exactly? Any other information would be helpful as well. Thanks so much. Hope to hear from you!