Currently airing on Showtime is a very loose adaptation of the Swedish novel Let the Right One In written by John Ajvide Lindqvist. The vampire novel was a success and was adapted into a film twice, once in Sweden and once here in the States. Now a television series with the same name is out, but how it got there, according to, Lindqvist, is a bit of a mess.
During an October interview this year, Lindqvist claimed he had nothing to do with the show. In his explanation of it, he believed that he had sold the rights to his novel to Hammer Films only to make the 2010 movie Let Me In—rights which he sold away for 1 Swedish Krona, which exchanges to around ten cents in USD. Lindqvist says he thought it was a formality, he was sadly very wrong.
“When the story was to be made into a film in the US, I sold the rights for a penny and signed a paper that I thought was just a formality. I didn’t have an agent at the time,” he said according to reporting from Aftonbladet. “It turned out that through this I had sold off all rights. So I haven’t had anything to do with it, which feels a bit sad, it’s my name, it’s my book. The only thing I’ve seen is the trailer, where there is some from the book and otherwise it’s general vampire nonsense.”
As for compensation, due to the terms of the contract, he is not being paid at all for the show, despite now having people in his corner to help him. He says, “They could do what they wanted and not pay me anything.” When asked if he thought he could fix the contract now he said: “I doubt that. You think they could pay me a percentage out of pure goodwill. Now I have an agent and they scrutinize all contracts so that won’t happen now. But they have tried to check that, because everything is so very strange. But it is difficult to get hold of those responsible.”
It was already very frustrating to me that the show had the same name as the novel but decided to so deeply ignore the premise, with its queerness and emotional complexity that centered on children. But to know that the author got so deeply screwed is horrifying. Lindqvist’s art is clearly seen as profitable and meaningful, but the way a studio felt so comfortable allegedly screwing him over by not having a proper agent.
Showtime and Hammer have not responded to these allegations yet. I also doubt the cast and crew working on this project knew all of this, but it is still upsetting and casts a blight on what I’ve heard is an overall well-acted project. Always get a lawyer before you sign stuff.
(via Aftonbladet, image: Showtime)
