Letters to the Editor
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Amen to Petronius
Clearly Lethem is not giving away his copyright. He's merely giving away his option. If the film gets made he gets 2% of the film's budget for (wait for it) ... his copyright (that's just slightly less than the standard 2.5% Hollywood deal). But then again, Lethem can sell his copyright again in five years to someone else, a deal he'd be hard pressed to get with a traditional Hollywood studio.
I would think Salon would be able to make this simple distinction between giving away an option (which writers do all the time in hopes of facilitating the greenlighting of a film) and giving away one's copyright. Oh well.
Congratulations to Lethem for getting himself some publicity.