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Lethem rattles the rights cage

Posted at 5:09 PM on April 2, 2007 by Euan Kerr

Jonathan Lethem says he's heard several film makers are intrigued by the film rights idea he announced a few weeks back, but he hasn't had a chance to look at them yet. To recap: he's offering the film rights for his new novel "You Don't Love Me Yet" for free to whoever he thinks has the best idea for a film adaptation.

There are wrinkles though: he is requesting a fee of 2 percent of the film budget should the movie get distributed. Also he and the film maker will agree to pass all rights to the story, and the film, into the public domain five years after the film is made.

Lethem says he's not going to be able to sit down with the proposals until the end of April. He's promised a decision by May 15th. He says he's doing this because he's interested in getting people to consider what he sees as the privatization of intellectual property. It's not that he is advocating that anyone else should do what he is trying, it's just he wants to start a debate.

It'll be intriguing to see what develops. You can hear more of the interviews he did with MPR news and for the Current here.