Jonathan Lethem, author of the recently published novel You Don't Love Me Yet (Doubleday), yesterday chose to give away the novel's film adaptation rights to Greg Marcks. The writer and director of the feature 11:14, Marcks was among four finalists who submitted proposals to Lethem after the best-selling novelist announced on March 13 on his Web site that he planned to give away the rights.
"Greg's ideas for the film are really teriffic, and I'm excited to see him try to make it," Lethem wrote on his Web site yesterday.
As part of the offer, Lethem will give away the novel's exclusive film adaptation rights. In return he will be paid 2 percent of the film's budget if it finds distribution. Marcks will then be required to give up the film's ancillary rights to the public domain after five years.
You Don't Love Me Yet is Lethem's sixth novel. His earlier novels The Fortress of Solitude (Doubleday, 2003), Motherless Brooklyn (Doubleday, 1999), and As She Climbed Across the Table (Doubleday, 1997) are also in various stages of film adaptation.
