Film Rights to First & Second Age

[davem]

Originally Posted by Sauron the White

Perhaps he does. But the ability to utilize those rights has been diminished by the actions of CT and the Estate in putting before the public a competing and more complete version of The Silmarallion. Is that ethical for the Estate, or anyone for that matter to engage in a business practice that has that effect without some degree of working things out with the person who held those rights before they were diminished?

CT edited together The Sil for publication because he wanted to make that material available to readers, & I daresay that thoughts that it might cause a problem for Saul Zaentz never crossed his mind.

You seem to have left the 'legal' question behind & are now arguing 'ethics' & asking for sympathy for poor Mr Zaentz - the man who is ultimately responsible for inflicting the Bakshi, Rankin-Bass & Jackson farragoes on us??

[William Cloud Hicklin]

"Ethics" and "Saul Zaentz" I never thought to see in the same sentence.....

"Zaentz can't dance but he'll steal your money.."
--CCR

Poor baby- parlayed a $20k investment into a quarter-billion free and clear without actually creating a bloody thing.


He spent his 20 grand on spec- it was a shrewd investment. But investment carries the possibility of both profit and loss. That's the way it works.

And you want to complain it's 'unethical' for the author and his family to publish the work he spent sixty years creating, just because Zaentz bought film rights to a footnote????