Aiwendil said
Quote:
The fact that JRRT needed the money and thus sold the film rights doesn't mean that he gave up the right to have an opinion on future adaptations.
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Of course one always has the right to their opinion. Unless one signs a contract with a clause that demands their silence, an opinion is free and interfers with nobody else or their rights or property. I imagine one could argue that one sells total rights to someone else and cashes the check and spends the money, decency and propriety may demand that you take a low profile regarding the other persons exercising of their rights. After all, you did sign the deal and give them complete control in perpetuity. But that is a matter of individual decision.
I think Hemingway had it right. He said that the best way to sell a book to a film studio was on an otherwise deserted beach at midnight. The author tosses the book towards the producer while he in turn tosses a briefcase filled with cash to the author. Then the two never bother each other again.