Stephen King’s Dollar Baby Program Has Come To An End
Beloved horror author Stephen King knows how hard it is to get started in show business. This is why for the last few decades, he granted aspiring filmmakers and theater producers permission to adapt his short stories for $1. While King retained the rights to his work, and the adaptations could not be shared commercially, it allowed many people a chance to practice their craft. However, sadly, like all good things, The Dollar Baby Program has come to an end. The initiative disbanded earlier this month.
Because the news is a huge blow to up-and-coming artists, it hit Twitter like a sack of bricks. After countless people asked what happened, Stephen King responded directly to his fans. It turns out it is because the person who oversaw the program, Margaret Morehouse, is retiring. This is completely understandable, seeing how Dollar Baby has been going for over 40 years. Many of us probably would not have lasted 40 months.
Read Stephen King’s tweet:
The program began in the late 1970s, and part of the deal was to not share the films outside of festivals and academia. So it’s hard to get an exact estimate of how many Dollar Babies projects were actually produced. However, we can assume that a ton of creatives were able to take advantage of this deal.
Getting the rights to adapt an author’s work is a lengthy and expensive process for any filmmaker. It’s especially difficult for people trying to break into the business with limited resources. So, I cannot even begin to imagine how hard it is to get permission to utilize the catalog of someone like Stephen King outside of a program like this.
Are you sad to hear The Dollar Baby Program has disbanded? Did you have your eye on one of Stephen King’s shorts you were hoping to produce? Let me which title you want to get a crack at at @misssharai.
Categorized:News
