Orson Scott Card, Anti-Gay Author, Responds To 'Ender's Game' Boycott Campaign

[Eddie Teach]

ok?

Though I'm sure the boycott organizers will be quick to take credit if the movie bombs.

[Siege]

This boycott is bad publicity.
Somebody said once that there is no such a thing.

Hey, what if, this was all planned to get this reaction from the homos, to get free publicity!!!!!!1111 

[11B4V]

IMO this boycott wont amount to shit.

It might or might not. I'll still know that I'm not giving my money to his endeavors. *shrugs*

That's cause, you're a crusader. 

[OttoVonBismarck]

We don't know anything about his deal, just that he has a producer credit which is unusual because typically at most once the author has sold their film rights their only involvement will be as some sort of consultant to help with certain details of the filming (meaning they basically receive a paycheck for working on the movie.) You typically have to basically be part of the group that bankrolls the film which includes individual producers and the studio etc to get a cut of the box office money. Sometimes the very top end actors can negotiate a cut of box office, too, or at least bonuses based on hitting certain box office metrics.

Card wasn't listed as one of the 'financial producers', so I don't know in what capacity he's involved with the film. He's most likely become attached to it long after selling the movie rights, because given the age of the book and how long they've talked about the movie I'd be shocked if he didn't sell those rights ages ago and also shocked if the rights haven't changed hands over the years. Sometimes if you sell film rights they revert back to the author after a certain period of years if the entity that purchased them failed to produce a film--which may have happened here, who knows.

I'm just making the point you guys are boycotting something that has a high likelihood of not affecting this dude's personal cash flow whatsoever. I think maybe if your intention is to hurt his pocketbook you should at least investigate whether it does or not. (Sort of how the BP branded gas stations actually aren't really part of the BP corporation and thus didn't affect said corporation when boycotted.)

After that is the larger point about when we distinguish art from its creator. Shakespeare was undoubtedly a vicious anti-semite based on his writings, do we give him a pass because of how long ago it was? Or is the key point whether or not the artist is still alive? There's lot of great 20th century deceased artists who held repugnant views, is it necessary to boycott them or only the ones who are still alive?

[merithyn]

That's cause, you're a crusader. 

You say that as if it's a bad thing.

[11B4V]

That's cause, you're a crusader. 

You say that as if it's a bad thing.

No ma'am. 

[OttoVonBismarck]

The point about future movies is also likely irrelevant. Because do you really think the people that bought the original film rights to Ender's Game wouldn't have bought the rights to the later books? Most likely it was a package deal, just like the one Martin did with HBO and Game of Thrones, HBO got rights to the whole series of ASOIAF, not just the novels extant at the time.

[Siege]

Can I be a crusader too?
Oh wait, nevermind.

[OttoVonBismarck]

As an example of how these things normally work, look at Tolkien and Lord of the Rings. He sold all film rights in 1968, they passed hands several times through different companies until a company bought them and created the "Middle-earth Enterprises" company which was basically a vehicle to hold his film rights and use them to make money for the owners of the venture. Tolkien, his estate and etc were so far removed from the rights to the movies that they made nothing off all those LotR animate films in the late 70s/early 80s, or the big blockbusters in the 2000s.

If I had to guess, and I'm just guessing, OSC sold his rights and similar happened to them long ago, probably before 1995. His involvement in the current movie is probably as a paid consultant or something and he's been given a producing credit.

[merithyn]

The point about future movies is also likely irrelevant. Because do you really think the people that bought the original film rights to Ender's Game wouldn't have bought the rights to the later books? Most likely it was a package deal, just like the one Martin did with HBO and Game of Thrones, HBO got rights to the whole series of ASOIAF, not just the novels extant at the time.

If he sold the rights in the '80s, then the other books couldn't have been included in the contract since they weren't all written yet. In addition, a successful movie will result in more books being sold.

[Siege]

The point about future movies is also likely irrelevant. Because do you really think the people that bought the original film rights to Ender's Game wouldn't have bought the rights to the later books? Most likely it was a package deal, just like the one Martin did with HBO and Game of Thrones, HBO got rights to the whole series of ASOIAF, not just the novels extant at the time.

If he sold the rights in the '80s, then the other books couldn't have been included in the contract since they weren't all written yet. In addition, a successful movie will result in more books being sold.

Meri, doesn't matter how much you hate it, this movie is going to succeed beyong anybody's wildest expectations.

[OttoVonBismarck]

The point about future movies is also likely irrelevant. Because do you really think the people that bought the original film rights to Ender's Game wouldn't have bought the rights to the later books? Most likely it was a package deal, just like the one Martin did with HBO and Game of Thrones, HBO got rights to the whole series of ASOIAF, not just the novels extant at the time.

If he sold the rights in the '80s, then the other books couldn't have been included in the contract since they weren't all written yet. In addition, a successful movie will result in more books being sold.

I'll admit I've never read any OSC books, so I was not aware of that. Book sales are the one thing you're unambiguously correct on, they will increase if the movie does well and authors almost always make money off of every book sold if the book is popular enough. If they aren't popular enough we probably aren't talking about film rights or anything anyway.

I just like pointing out that most people who do these boycotts are totally unaware of the financials, and I think most of these boycotts only tangentially and perhaps never affect the person financially at all. It's like the people who boycotted Domino's when they found out the CEO and Founder ran a pro-life organization, even after they found out he no longer had any active involvement with Domino's and had sold his stake in the company.

I guess for me, aside from most boy-cotters being ignorant of where money flows, what concerns me more is the squelching of ideas. The worst part about many of my compatriots on the right is they are closed minded. They raise their children insulated from many works of great literature and film because they feel it goes against the Bible or is sinful. I don't see how the left is doing any better by trying to boycott stuff because the content creators hold views they view as hateful. This concept that we have nothing to learn from creative works from people we disagree with, or even unambiguously bad people, is a dangerous one.

[merithyn]

Meri, doesn't matter how much you hate it, this movie is going to succeed beyong anybody's wildest expectations.

You ascribe far more passion than necessary.

[merithyn]

I'll admit I've never read any OSC books, so I was not aware of that. Book sales are the one thing you're unambiguously correct on, they will increase if the movie does well and authors almost always make money off of every book sold if the book is popular enough. If they aren't popular enough we probably aren't talking about film rights or anything anyway.

I just like pointing out that most people who do these boycotts are totally unaware of the financials, and I think most of these boycotts only tangentially and perhaps never affect the person financially at all. It's like the people who boycotted Domino's when they found out the CEO and Founder ran a pro-life organization, even after they found out he no longer had any active involvement with Domino's and had sold his stake in the company.

I guess for me, aside from most boy-cotters being ignorant of where money flows, what concerns me more is the squelching of ideas. The worst part about many of my compatriots on the right is they are closed minded. They raise their children insulated from many works of great literature and film because they feel it goes against the Bible or is sinful. I don't see how the left is doing any better by trying to boycott stuff because the content creators hold views they view as hateful. This concept that we have nothing to learn from creative works from people we disagree with, or even unambiguously bad people, is a dangerous one.

Okay.

[derspiess]

Meri, doesn't matter how much you hate it, this movie is going to succeed beyong anybody's wildest expectations.

You ascribe far more passion than necessary.

Crusaders are usually pretty passionate, though