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Cassandra Clare

New York Times Bestselling Author of The Mortal Instruments

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Did you have control over the City of Bones movie?

February 8, 2012 by

I did not. Which is not to say no one from the film team ever talked to me. They came to me often asking questions and/or asking for my advice. Sometimes they took my advice or listened to my answers. Sometimes they did not.

People are often shocked to hear that authors have little say over the films made of their books. They point to the very rare exceptions — Suzanne Collins, JK Rowling, EL James — where the author did have control. But that is the exception and not the rule, as those authors were able to get themselves made part of the production team that made the films based on their books. If you are not part of the production team, you have no official voice.

Think of a book as like a house you own. Maybe you built it. Maybe you spent years decorating it so it was just right for you. And you have great memories associated with every piece of it. But you have to move, so you sell your house and you move out.

The movie people are in the position of the people who bought your house. They can do whatever they want with it, because it is now their house (which is not to say they own the books, but they own the movie version of the books). They do not need to call you if they want to paint the dining room tomato red, even if you would never have painted the dining room tomato red, even if you hate tomato red. They are not legally obligated to consult you about their house because they own it. And that is the case for 99% of movie adaptations.

The producers and director and production designer were all nice enough to come to me to consult about various things. I gave my opinion. Sometimes they took it. Sometimes they didn’t take it. Sometimes they took part of it but not the rest. Some things I was never asked about and was as surprised as everyone else to see it (Valentine’s hair. 🙂 Some things I was consulted on — sometimes very strange specific things (the exact shape of witchlight, specific Latin phrases) — and many things I was not. So I would say that I had input, but I did not have control.

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