Christopher Tolkien: kill HOBBIT film

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Sauron the White

'... JRRT - God bless him - generated lots of income. He took the profit sharing checks and cashed them and spent them. And then the tax came due and surprise surprise - no money was left. I do not think he was all by himself in that line. (...) He apparently did not put aside the money and instead had to generate new income so he sold the film rights. Thats the way life works - for him and the rest of us. At least he had some film rights to sell.

How do we know what Tolkien did and did not do here, what he spent and so forth, or how he saved with respect to taxes in 1969?

The picture painted by the very detailed Chronology of H&S is that Tolkien made a deal with Stanley Unwin well before 1969. And in 1961 Rayner reminded Tolkien of the policy he had agreed to with Stanley Unwin: cash or Kudos (source Hammond and Scull) when Rembrandt Films became interested in cartoon films of the Hobbit. Tolkien wrote to Raynor:

'I clearly understand that one must either turn the matter down or put up with many objectionable things that they are sure to perpetrate in their production. I am sure advice or argument would be quite unavailing (except to make them throw the whole thing up) and I have no time for either. In any case I do not feel so deeply about The Hobbit; and anyway I am now mainly dependent for my support on my earnings as an author I feel justified in sinking my feelings in return for cash.' JRRT

In September 1967 Rayner Unwin sent Tolkien various letters from their American agent, a Mr. Swanson: 'Swanson has also written about an offer for film rights of the Lord of the Rings.' (H&S). In November, Rayner, having just returned from the United States, writes to Tolkien, stating that he thinks 'agreement is close with United Artists for the Lord of the Rings film rights.'

In 1969 (near the rumors of the Beatles and a film surfaced) Rayner Unwin again reminded Tolkien of their agreement (Hammond and Scull): that if a film brings cash, they will waive any kudos. He points out to Tolkien that whatever the film is like 'the book remains inviolable and that is the main thing. What they do with the property in other media will, I regret to say, be entirely their responsibility from an aesthetic point of view, will only vary in degrees between bad at best and execrable at the worst.'

OK, negotiations had begun in 1967. The implication I get is that the agreement in the 1950s was in play, and that A&U and Swanson were basically handling things; and the deal was finally ready in 1969. Of course I've read this before about the bill, and so it would seem to be true; but if so I would hope it has a fairly reliable source (and probably does).

I just want to know the source of this statement to see if it is true and to consider for myself its reliability -- Rayner Unwin? Joy Hill? Tolkien himself? some 'deduction' made by some lawyer?

[William Cloud Hicklin]

The tax bill story has been repeated often in the press- and although the press is notoriously unreliable on these things, I believe the tax bill line appeared in the very accurate story printed in 2001 in The Financial Times, which for the first time (TMK) gave the correct cash consideration and the fact that there were residuals.

The problem which afflicted Tolkien in the late 1960's was that the Ballantine paperbacks and ensuing Tolkien Craze generated royalties vastly beyond anything he had anticipated even in 1962- and *suddenly* exposed him to Surtax. (The Inland Revenue, at least back then, had a nasty habit of 'surprising' you with a bill- calculated on an accrual, not a cash, basis). There was also the fact that Tolkien had been forced in 1968 to make an unplanned move to Bournemouth and buy a very expensive house, which probably consumed most of his liquid cash.