IP 2024: What Sold, What Didn't & Why (+ 6 Picks for Now)
A special edition of The Optionist, The Ankler's sibling newsletter about the world of available rights
We’ve covered entertainment’s IP crisis, from Richard Rushfield and Sean McNulty’s two-part look at 20 major franchises at a crossroads, veteran director and showrunner David S. Goyer’s AI-powered digital playground to develop new IP, the boom in spec scripts as an answer to the shortage of ideas — and even Entertainment Strategy Guy’s argument for relying even more heavily on existing IP because it consistently outperforms original ideas.
So it’s a perfect time to remind you of The Optionist, a standalone subscription newsletter from Ankler Media that identifies IP available for adaptation. Led by Andy Lewis, the former book editor of The Hollywood Reporter, The Optionist sources IP from books (new and backlist), long-form journalism, short stories, podcasts, graphic novels and more, curating four to six promising and available picks each week. Talking to agents and publishers, Andy offers far more than just a logline: he includes comps, plot summary, casting suggestions and, of course, rep info.
And The Optionist delivers results. Many of Andy’s finds have had rights snapped up, including a James Bond spoof, a backlist title about a legendary unsolved robbery, a buddy cop procedural with diverse leads, a thriller about assassins who just happen to be older women, a satire about a Black writer trying to navigate Hollywood, a medical procedural about the federal government’s elite rare disease detectives, a high-concept sci-fi procedural that places a murder investigation against the arrival of a three-mile tall alien corpse and a best-selling Southern Noir crime novel.
The newsletter, sent at noon PT every Friday to those who subscribe, is like having an extra set of hands on your development team to help you find that next great project. Herewith, let’s hear from Andy, where he shares part of his exclusive survey of agents and managers who represent authors and journalists about the state of the market, plus he selects six still-available favorites from recent editions of The Optionist. You can reach Andy at andyblewis@gmail.com, and subscribe to The Optionist individually or as a group subscription.
Welcome to The Optionist. I recently checked in with agents and producers involved in the page-to-screen space in both Hollywood and publishing to give readers insight into what sold, what didn’t and why in 2024.
Successes included big names, procedurals and on the nonfiction front, anything “stranger than fiction.” As one agent noted, “Escapism in any form” gained traction in 2024 “because the news is so dark and dreary.” The consensus “best of” books were unusually popular with the screen rights to virtually all optioned (not something that happens every year) — with the exception of Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo which the author didn’t allow to be optioned.
Multiple parties reported a hunger for epic romance (think The English Patient), even if that was followed by the caveat “but not period.” One manager called the epic-but-not-period tension “infuriating” because “we all know that kind of material is so often period.” Others reported lots of buzz around prestigurals and anything pitched as elevated.
“Elevated,” “prestigural” and “epic romance” are all catchy buzzwords, but they’re also maddeningly vague, reflecting the unsettled nature of the market. It makes me think of Justice Potter Stewart’s famous quote about obscenity: “I know it when I see it.”
When I asked if there was a deal that someone else (not a coworker) did this year that caught their attention, one manager cited Caro Claire Burke’s forthcoming novel Yesteryear, about a trad-wife influencer who appears to travel back in time to the early 1800s. It was pitched as a mix of The Stepford Wives and Leave the World Behind, with a sprinkle of Black Mirror tossed in. In a multi-bidder chase, Anne Hathaway won the rights to star and produce. This one deal, with its buzzy escapist premise, finger on current trends and A-list package, captured a lot of what I heard about the market in my conversations.
Election Impact
I also asked if folks thought the 2024 election results would affect the market. The most common answer was: “Yes, but I’m not sure how.” The one thing everyone seemed to agree on was there's no appetite among buyers (and, in theory, the viewing public) for anything about electoral politics or that’s overtly partisan. (This generation’s not getting its own All The President's Men.)
More broadly, there's a very real concern out there about "soft-censorship" as buyers shy away from thorny topics out of fear, especially on topics relating to sexuality and LGTBQ issues. Though, as one book agent noted, all you have to do is look at the popularity of Chappell Roan to see that there’s a younger demo, large numbers of whom that openly identify as such, that’s open to engaging in this conversation.
Others suggested that because the election spotlighted audiences that feel underserved, buyers and sellers should pay attention to that. Still, as one manager noted and something that is important to emphasize, it’s often hard to draw a line between people's electoral choices and their entertainment ones, noting the success of The Boys — the ultra-violent superhero satire of power, politics and corporate greed — as an example of something that complicates any simple linkage.
Death of the Middle
One of the most notable things for me was the tough option market for mid-list fiction. Mid-list, of course, refers to books that sell well but don't make the bestseller list. On the publishing side, the mid-list squeeze was one of the first trends I wrote about when The Optionist first launched. It strikes me that this is part of a larger trend I see as the death of the middle-class creative. I see this in my colleague Elaine Low’s pieces over at Series Business: How mid-level writers, producers, below-the-line crew and others are all struggling.
The neglect for mid-list titles reveals a real inefficiency in the market. But where there's inefficiency, there's opportunity. I'm reminded of one of my favorite scenes in Moneyball, where Oakland A's general manger Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is explaining to his staff that instead of trying to replace a lost superstar with another comparable player they couldn't afford, think about replacing his statistics by cobbling together three cheaper players. To me, mid-list titles are those players.
What Didn’t Work
As for what didn't work, the people I spoke with reported that the market was tough for kids’ stuff — younger-skewing YA and middle-grade. Meanwhile, the success of everything from Shogun to Bridgerton to Gladiator II to Outlander notwithstanding, period remains a tough sell.
Despite the book sales the romantasy genre has generated, the romance/fantasy hybrid hasn't crossed over to Hollywood in a strong way . . . yet. There's still a lot of uncertainty about how much it will in the long run. As one manager told me: “Inevitably, Hollywood is a few years behind publishing, because whether it’s Fourth Wing or whatever, that’s going to take a few years to come out, and I just don’t know if the publishing trends are [still] going to be there” when the first screen adaptations premiere. Also, many of the books in this genre are big, expensive swings featuring younger main characters, which can be a problem given that studios want bankable stars packaged with projects in this budget range.
(Subscribers can read the full rundown here, as well as some of the big adaptations headed for the screen this year.)
A 6-Pack of 2025 Gems
On to a sample of recent picks, a mix of everything The Optionist offers on a regular basis:
A sci-fi adventure about a time-traveling archaeologist trying to recover a valuable artifact and fix the greatest mistake of his career.
A true-life drama/thriller about an overlooked gangster from the 1930s that’s Bonnie and Clyde with present-day grifter vibes.
A horror procedural/thriller about the search for magically cursed art
A true-crime procedural about a whistleblower who puts her career and possibly her life on the line to expose corruption and greed at a pharmaceutical company.
A backlist pick dramedy about the strained relationship between a gay son and his mother and the very famous celebrity editor (no spoilers here!) who brings them together.
A journalism story about solar panel salesmen that could inspire a Glengarry Glen Ross-like drama.
Current Books I Like
Sci-Fi/Action-Adventure
For fans of: National Treasure and Raiders of the Lost Ark
Potential logline: A time-traveling archaeologist pursues an artifact in sixth-century Constantinople while avoiding rivals and local gangs.
Splinter Effect by Andrew Ludington (Minotaur, March) I’m a sucker for a time-travel adventure and this one does an expert job in figuring out how to take familiar ingredients (the time-travel rules, a compelling lead character, historical artifacts, a great villain) and remix them in a fresh way. Splinter Effect has detailed world-building, a fun and fairly grounded premise and a winning hero and supporting characters.
The story finds Rabbit Ward, a time-traveling archaeologist for the Smithsonian, looking for redemption by fixing his past mistakes. In this world, time travel is heavily regulated and used mostly by the government and wealthy individuals. One catch is that nothing from the past can travel back to present day. So the Smithsonian sends people back to the moment just before famous artifacts disappear to snatch and hide them so they can be found in the future.
Ward is still haunted by the biggest mistake of his career: Losing the menorah from the Second Temple as well as his protégé in Ancient Rome. But when information turns up that places the menorah in sixth-century Constantinople, he heads back to set things right.
There’s so much here that works like gangbusters. Rabbit is a well-sketched hero. He’s got a nice dose of Indy in him and the redemption arc adds an extra layer to his quest that makes it more than just a treasure hunt. (I could see Glen Powell in the role . . . or maybe Chris Pratt.)
Ludington creates the perfect balance of the familiar and the new. This could be a period-hopping National Treasure and easily become a franchise. REPS: Rich Green/The Gotham Group
True Crime/History
For fans of: Bonnie and Clyde
Potential logline: The overlooked true story of George “Machine Gun” Kelly, his Lady Macbeth, Kathryn Thorne, and the 1934 kidnapping that changed America
Meet the Kellys: The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne by Chris Enss (Citadel, May) Machine Gun Kelly was the subject of a couple of movies in the 1950s, but was left out of Michael Mann’s 2009 adaptation of Public Enemies, the bestselling book about 1930s gangsters like John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd. For Meet the Kellys’ prospects, that turns out to be a fortuitous omission.
George Kelly was a juvenile delinquent turned small-time bootlegger in Memphis and Tulsa when he met the thrice-married Thorne (she wasn’t even 25!) in 1928. She would turn out to be a sort of criminal Lady Macbeth who pushed Kelly into more lucrative — and immediate — paydays from bank robbery and kidnapping for ransom, a crime that exploded during this era and became one of the FBI’s top priorities. Maggie Siff would be a perfect Thorne, but the A-list casting for this might be something more like Ana de Armas and Matt Damon.
In 1933, the pair kidnapped the wealthy Oklahoma City oil tycoon Charles Urschel and demanded a $200,000 ransom (almost $5 million in today’s dollars) for his release. The ransom was paid and Urschel was released, but J. Edgar Hoover took a personal interest in catching the criminals. The Feds cracked the case because Urschel took mental notes of things like how long he was in the car and the sounds he heard even though he was blindfolded.
There is so much terrific raw material here for an adaptation. There’s the initial meeting between the two at a nightclub and the creation of the bigger-than-life Machine Gun Kelly persona: She got him the machine gun and made it part of his image. Then there’s the reality behind the legend that reveals Kelly wasn't all that violent or tough. The ways Thorne shrewdly used the media feels very modern, and the symbiotic relationship between the couple and Hoover in creating the Machine Gun Kelly myth, from which they both benefited, is also winning. REPS: The author is repping herself. Ping me for contact info.
Horror Thriller/Procedural
For fans of: Kingsman
Potential logline: An artist joins a secret organization run by the British monarchy to find and destroy paintings that carry a dangerous magical curse.
The Macabre by Kosoko Jackson (Harper Voyager, Sept.) Jackson’s adult debut is an action-packed, fast-moving quest story with fantasy elements and a welcome dash of horror.
Artist Lewis Dixon was recently added to the lineup of a prestigious exhibition at the British Museum celebrating the Empire's history; he's representing the U.S. However, he soon finds out that he wasn’t selected based on artistic merit but rather because he possesses latent magical abilities. He’s been recruited into a secret organization of the Crown to help track down 10 cursed paintings made by his grandfather (known as “the Macabre series”). Dixon is teamed with agent Noah Roa to find the paintings and use his magic skills to neutralize them.
Jackson’s wild tale feels a bit like a hybrid of the Kingsman movies and Harry Potter's Horcrux-destroying quest in Deathly Hallows. The premise sucks you in and the magical secret society is convincingly constructed. While I wouldn’t classify this as horror, per se, there’s a definite air of menace in the paintings and the search for them.
This is already well-structured for episodic development. The hunt for each painting — setting up its history, locating it and destroying it — would make perfectly contained episodes or short arcs. Dixon is a strong lead character and a perfect audience surrogate because he’s an outsider encountering this magic world for the first time, just like us. His hero’s journey from learning about his legacy to joining the hunt to mastering his magical skills is one that has you rooting for him. As for Noah, he’s an excellent guide into this world. He’s both a strong partner, the knowledgeable and skilled veteran to Dixon’s rookie, and a love interest. Secondary characters also help round out the story, especially Evangeline, the head of the Crown magical organization. REPS: Mary Pender/WME
Procedural/True Crime
For fans of: The Insider and Dopesick
Potential logline: A young sales rep puts her career and possibly her life on the line to expose corruption and greed at a pharmaceutical company.
False Claims: One Insider's Impossible Battle Against Big Pharma Corruption by Lisa Pratta (William Morrow, June) This fantastic true story could easily be the basis for a sterling whistleblower procedural. It helps that it’s centered on the pharmaceutical industry, which probably has one of the lowest approval ratings of any big business around. This is the kind of true-crime tale that you can instantly envision as a movie in your head from page one.
The storyline involves a young pharmaceutical rep who lands her dream job at Questcor — a small company with a life-saving multiple sclerosis (MS) drug. But she quickly becomes disillusioned by the company’s greed, corruption and toxic corporate culture.
Questcor realized it could make more money with its MS drug if it recommended overprescribing it and arbitrarily raised the price. Despite being a single mother with a special needs child, Pratta decided she couldn’t stay silent, so she began a double life as a whistleblower.
For a decade, Pratta leaked information to the Justice Department, despite the dangers and no promises of help from the government if she was discovered. At the same time, she was harassed by her supervisors because of her unwillingness to use Questcor’s illegal sales tactics.
This is a vise-tight thriller. The author always feels on the edge of being discovered. Her courage makes her easy to root for. The single-mother-with-a-special-needs-child angle also gives the story a tearjerker element.
The only real advice I’d give is to compress the story — which takes place over about a decade — and make it a movie. Otherwise, this mix of The Insider and Dopesick has all the ingredients for a first-rate thriller. REPS: Adam Chromy/Movable Type
Backlist
Dramedy
For fans of: Jackie and Wonder Boys
Potential logline: A gay novelist struggling to finish a fictionalized account of his difficult relationship with his mother gets help from his book editor and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
The Editor by Steven Rowley (Putnam, 2019) I’ve been an admirer of Rowley since Lily and the Octopus, his 2016 debut (a true tearjerker that got my waterworks going). That and his three subsequent novels were all optioned at one point or another. But this one, which immediately followed Lily, has just gone back on the market. It delivers Rowley’s signature heartfelt emotion leavened with some genuine comedy.
Set in the ’90s, the story follows writer James Smale, who is struggling to finish a novel that’s already been optioned for the screen. His agent sends him to Doubleday to meet an editor who wants to publish it without telling him that the editor is none other than . . . Jackie O.
This is such an interesting take on the iconic First Lady. As Rowley noted (correctly) when the book first came out, Jackie-as-editor is one of the lesser-known periods of her life, giving him more leeway to imagine her life without butting up against what people already know. This version of Jackie is very human, never more so than when she’s mixing daiquiris at her desk.
The book is terrific at capturing the emotionally intimate, almost therapeutic, relationship that can develop between editor and writer, with the added frisson of toying with people’s notions of the real person.
Rowley is an ace depicting the book’s mother-son relationship as well as Smale grappling with his homosexuality and the guilt he carries about it being the cause of his parents’ busted marriage. There’s also a twist — one that sends Smale on a quest to find his real father.
There are three great roles here. I’m not sure who I’d cast as Smale, but my mind dances at the thought of who could play Kennedy Onassis and who could play the mother, both equally compelling female parts. Imagine Meryl Streep as Jackie and, say, Glenn Close or Jamie Lee Curtis as the mom. That’d be dynamite!
The Editor has been described as being somewhere between Wonder Boys and The Devil Wears Prada. That’s a pretty good line, but this is emotionally deeper than the mash-up comp suggests. Rowley has a knack for exploring emotions without becoming maudlin or overly sentimental, helped by his comedic touch. REPS: Rob Weisbach Creative Mgmt and CAA
Journalism
Drama
For fans of: Glengarry Glen Ross
Potential logline: The hard times and humbling tribulations of an itinerant solar-panel salesman in 21st-century America
“The Spectacular Burnout of a Solar Panel Salesman: He thought he’d make millions of dollars selling solar panels door-to-door. The reality was much darker” by Brendan I. Koerner (Wired, Jan. 13) This is a marvelous story about traveling solar-panel salesmen that perfectly captures the struggle to make a living right now. It could be the basis for either a drama, a dramedy or even a sitcom. The reboot of The Office is apparently going to be set at a struggling Midwestern newspaper, but it’s just as easy to envision that idea working in the world of traveling solar-panel salesmen.
The Wired article focuses on Aaron Colvin, an ambitious kid just starting his freshman year at Niagara University with dreams of getting rich. It traces his story from getting recruited while working out at a gym to pitching prospective customers in Florida to quitting and returning to school to once again succumbing to the lure of fast money before giving up for good.
The story examines the psychological toll of almost constant rejection, whether these salesmen really believe in the product they’re selling, the big-money dreams they’re sold by their superiors versus the reality of small commissions and life on the road — and the cult-like nature of it all. REPS: Matthew Snyder/CAA
Image credits: False Claims (William Morrow); The Macabre (Harper Voyager); Splinter Effect (Minotaur); The Editor (Putnam); Meet the Kellys (Citadel)
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