Lethem annoints director for "You Don't Love Me Yet" copyright experiment

By Cory Doctorow at 6:07 pm Monday, May 21

Jonathan Lethem has chosen Greg Marcks (writer-director of the feature "11:14") to direct the film adaptation of his latest novel, You Don't Love Me Yet. Lethem, a Macarthur-winning sf novelist, had previously announced that he'd give a no-upfront-money option to a director who promised to release all ancillary rights five years after the film's release.

In other words, after a waiting period during which those rights would still be restricted, anyone who cared to could make any number of other kinds of artwork based on the novel’s story and characters, or the film’s: a play, a television series, a comic book, a theme park ride, an opera – or even a sequel film or novel featuring the same characters. For that matter, they can remake the film with another script and new actors. In my agreement with the filmmaker, those ancillary rights will be launched into the public domain.

Link (Thanks, Steve!)