Power Movies In Writing

It’s not just that Mezrich has capitalized on Hollywood’s insatiable appetite for IP —  he has perfected the art of selling his stories for the screen. Normally, a writer publishes a book or article, then tries to get Hollywood interested in adapting it. Mezrich does it the other way around. “I write a ten-to-14-page book proposal, we take it out to Hollywood, and I sell the movie rights,” he says. “Then I go to the publishing houses with these ten pages and I sell the book. Then I write the book in three months while the screenwriter is already working on the screenplay.” If Hollywood doesn’t bite? He just won’t write the book, shelving the idea and coming up with another one.