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How Indie Authors Can Sell Film & TV Rights

How Indie Authors Can Sell Film & TV Rights

Sharmaine Lovegrove of Dialogue Berlin who now works with The Alliance of Independent Authors to source great self-published books for TV & film

Sharmaine Lovegrove of Dialogue Berlin who now works with The Alliance of Independent Authors to source great books for TV & film

Dialogue Berlin is now working with ALLi to source the self-published stories that are most suitable for TV and film.
If you would like to have your story considered by Dialogue for possible submission to producers and filmmakers, you'll find full details in the Member Zone here.

In the wake of the economic crash and rapid developments in publishing technology, both the film and book industries have been adapting to significant changes in the way they tell stories. A measure of the way things have changed is that self-published authors are now being considered for page-to-screen adaptations, something that publishers and studios had not previously envisaged.

As the climate has stabilised and new methods have been adopted and embraced, I have noticed in the last three years a rise in literary titles being optioned and greenlit, and this is why it seemed like a great time to connect the work of Dialogue_Berlin to the members of ALLi.

A little background about myself, as I will be the main point of contact for our page-to-screen programme. I began my working life as a bookseller and TV runner. I worked at Foyles Bookstore on Charing Cross Road and for many years at The London Review Bookshop in Bloomsbury and, over the years, for what feels like most of London Soho’s production companies.

In 2011, I founded Dialogue_Berlin, a literary consultancy with departments comprising Page to Screen for adaptation, and PR, Events & Communication for international publishers, agencies and storytellers. Being in Berlin allows me to have a unique work portfolio and bring a fresh vision to publishing, away from the established centres of London and New York.

In our page-to-screen department, our mission is to source illuminating, globally resonating stories for our clients, a roster of international production companies, in order to option and acquire the rights on their behalf.

How Indie Authors Can Sell Film & TV RightsDrawing on our literary and film experience, we also have the opportunity to work on the development of the screenplay.

Our clients all have very different and changing tastes, looking for stories that might include spies one month and family drama the next. Our team embraces ten different languages, and read thousands of stories a year with the hope of finding the right material for our clients. I am delighted to have expanded this into looking for self-published work from ALLi.

I will be writing a regular missive to you, informing you of some of the latest trends and insights from this often silent part of the industry and I look forward to receiving work from the ALLi membership to consider for Dialogue’s growing band of clients.

Having recently been to London, New York and LA, as well as the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, I have been buoyed by the appetite for novels and stories to be adapted, and I thinkthe future for us all is looking bright.

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This Post Has 19 Comments
  1. Hi Sharmaine,

    Dialogue Berlin certainly sounds interesting. I’m presuming you’re swamped with submissions. I’ve sent mine: a Biographical Historical novel about Mary Rose Tudor, the little sister of King Henry VIII, but I anticipate quite a wait while you wade through the possibles. Never mind, as a long-established novelist, past experiences mean I’m used to that. Hey, it’s one of the reasons I turned indie!

    Good luck. I hope your courage in this venture reaps its reward.
    Geraldine.

  2. Have had a children’s screen play with Wild Thyme Productions for a very long time. There’s been serious film interest as well in my Y/A novel, ‘FOR MARITSA WITH LOVE’. I do have an agent, but am also self-publishing.

  3. Sharmaine, this is such an exciting and important development and opportunity for us as authors. I, too, would like to know if the preferred way for submission consideration is as outlined on the ALLi post that first introduced Dialogue Berlin to members, which stated that story synpopsis, bio. and link to author website was to be sent to [email protected].

    Is this still the preferred route? Should/can anything else be included, such as book awards or other accolades which may indicate the paying public’s level of interest in the story?

  4. I previously submitted a story idea with pre-recorded links, author bio and synopsis to Alli when Dialogue Berlin was first mooted. I assume Ali would have forwarded but, as yet, no confirmation of that? I would be grateful to know it was redirected to DB? It seems a marvellous concept.

  5. Thank you Sharmaine: Dialogue_Berlin is a welcome development in the Indie author field. After several long years of attacking the ramparts of Hollywood from afar, with my screenplays, I am adapting them to E-novels. I will start the promos and publish the 1st: “Body Scavengers” on Amazon KDP in the next few weeks, followed by two e-novels in the next few months. Part of my strategy is that a hungry film producer may find them. I would appreciate basic information about your firm’s history and success. International Rights are an important matter. Please cintact me at: [email protected].

    I wish you success..

    Warren.

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