Fantasy writer sells trilogy to Hollywood
Author Terry Pratchett has signed a deal to have three of his fantasy novels turned into animated films, it was reported today.
The film rights to the British author’s best-selling Bromeliad Trilogy have been snapped up by Hollywood giant DreamWorks.
The deal, said to be worth just under one million dollars (£699,484), will pave the way for three computer-animated films.
‘‘There are few authors whose work lends itself to animation as well as Terry Pratchett’s,’’ Jeffrey Katzenberg told Daily Variety.
‘‘His Bromeliad trilogy is a wonderful blend of fantasy and humour.’’
The movies of the novels Truckers, Diggers and Wings which make up the trilogy, will be made by animators Andrew Adamson and Joe Stillman.
They co-directed and co-wrote the forthcoming animated adventure Shrek, which uses the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz.
Author Pratchett, who lives in south Wiltshire, said he had been persuaded to sell the rights to DreamWorks because they wanted to use animation.
‘‘I liked Chicken Run and Galaxy Quest, and you’ve got to be impressed when someone from the studio phones up from Hollywood one night and turns up for lunch in Wiltshire the very next day,’’ he told the newspaper.
The first film in the series, Truckers, will follow the adventures of a group of ‘‘nomes’’ (corr) who live in a department store until it gets demolished.
They are forced to move out into the outside world for the first time and discover their real origins as aliens.
Pratchett’s books, including the best-selling Discworld series, have sold more than 23 million copies worldwide.
The Discworld stories chronicle the adventures of a planet, inhabited by elves and dwarves, which is balanced on the back of a giant turtle.
But Pratchett has not achieved bestselling status in the US, so an animated series of films could hand him a breakthrough into the huge market.
The former journalist quit his job to write full time and now has a cult following for his novels, as well as an almost permanent place in the best-seller lists.
His books are now outsold in the UK only by JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series.
