Publishers Want Higher Billing in Book-Film Deals

One of the first projects coming out of the partnership is a TV series based on Lisa Scottoline's novels about an all-female Philadelphia law firm.

"No one in the entertainment business can live in just one world anymore," said Angela Shapiro-Mathes, president of Fox TV Studios in Los Angeles. "Fox TV Studios may learn about an author from HarperCollins who strikes us as a good writer for television, based on his or her ability to create great characters. At the same time, we may be producing a TV series with a new writer who has a distinctive voice or point of view, and that TV show might also make a great book. The boundaries are blurring, and everyone here has to be interrelated."

At St. Martin's Press, publishers are looking to translate TV and movie properties into original books. It can be a lucrative field; Jennifer Weis, executive editor and newly named manager of concept development, considers it a key part of publishing's future growth.

On a recent trip to Hollywood, she met with agents in the literary divisions of the big agencies, as well as talent managers, talent agents, studio officials and others.

"We have not had a development person in Hollywood for a long time, and Hollywood is changing," she said. "I met a number of talent managers, and they'd say, 'We have seven stars, and six are looking for book properties. What can we create for them?' "