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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Lit Rights to publish Star Wars material?

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Greedoliveson, Nov 6, 2012.

  1. Greedoliveson

    Greedoliveson Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Feb 15, 2012
    I was wondering for an author to publish a S/W novel he/she must get permission from Lucas first, but will this still be the case now that he has sold to DIsney?

    How does it work, and will it change because of the sale to Disney?
     
  2. Gorefiend

    Gorefiend Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2004
    We could just write them and ask ;) though from the looks of it books still go through DR. At least for now.
     
  3. FatSmel

    FatSmel Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 23, 2012
    That's not how it worked in any case . . .

    they don't just "get permission from lucas"
     
  4. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    When I asked Joe Schrieber, he said that he was contacted by Del Rey. The work was contract work, and he was provided with ample source material prior. Once he accepted the contract, he just sent in a basic story treatment, and they gave him free reign from there.
     
  5. Gorefiend

    Gorefiend Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2004
    That explains so much when it comes to recent novels [face_sigh]
     
    Zorrixor likes this.
  6. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    Unfortunately, but that's essentially how tie-in fiction contracts work for many companies. The publisher seeks out an author they like and offer them a contract. The author accepts and is given a basic gist of a story, and the author writes up an outline and sends it in for approval. Then, the author writes the story.
     
  7. Gorefiend

    Gorefiend Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2004
    Just seems strange as back in the days Zahn apparently had to write at least 3 full drafts and regularly had to change stuff or include things they wanted added. Even quite recently actually when he had to add Obi-Wan and Young Vader to Outbound Flight.
     
    CeiranHarmony likes this.
  8. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    That might have been Bantam's policy at the time, and it may have been that he was working under an editorial mandate.
     
  9. Zorrixor

    Zorrixor Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 8, 2004
    I actually read an article last year that discussed how many of the big publishers are simply relying on editors less and less, with editing increasingly being regarded as something that an author's agent does, due to most publishers not even reading something submitted directly by an author, but only if it comes from an agent, who it's then assumed will have already got the writer to fix things before it even gets to the publisher's door.

    It's just not the same industry it was back in Bantam's day, with editing a big in-house thing. [face_sigh]
     
    RC-1991 likes this.
  10. JediMara77

    JediMara77 Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 5, 2004
    Zahn actually had a ton of free range on the Thrawn Trilogy. It's pretty much the same as now. Once the outline is approved, the author is left alone to write. Changes and requests, such as adding Obi-Wan and Anakin to OF, are done in the outline phase.
     
  11. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    To be fair, that does have its strengths in certain instances (over editing can be a problem just as lack of editing can), though for franchise work it's pretty essential.

    But yeah, the idea of having no editing whatsoever is a pretty bad one.
     
  12. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    In terms of comics... the less input and influence the editor has over the story, the better the story is. We've all seen the bad storylines that were dragged out longer than they should have been. Those were usually editorial mandates. When the editor demands that something occur in the story and the authors have to work around the whims of the editor, the story tends to fall apart, drag, or take forever to get off the ground, and then the big payoff isn't really that great, the ending was forced and hackneyed, or the story overall was just crap.

    Editors are usually not writers. And it shows in an editorial mandate story.
     
    WIERD_GREEN_MAN likes this.
  13. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    Lucas Licensing still exists and nothing's changed aside from who owns Star Wars. It's still the same corporate structure.

    It's basically just like TrakNar's said it is.
     
  14. WIERD_GREEN_MAN

    WIERD_GREEN_MAN Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2010
    Lucas almost never is contacted directly. He has organizations and people to handle lowly authors. He probably has no idea what Knight Errant is. Lucas doesn't get contacted directly about a freakin' book.
     
  15. jacktherack

    jacktherack Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 2008
    b-b-b but i thought that lucas has to stamp his seal of approval on every single book ever published in the eu... you mean he has other things to do?
     
  16. Red.Two

    Red.Two Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Nov 25, 2012
    Hey man, those "special editions" are going to "special" themselves!