Conlan Press - Peter S. Beagle Fund - You Can Help!

This is very sad. One of my favorite screen-writers and authors, Peter Beagle, who wrote both the animated Lord of the Rings screenplay, and the book and screenplay of the Last Unicorn is not being paid what his contract with Granada Media and Zaentz Films states he should be. He is, in fact, in dire financial straights, while the Last Unicorn continues to be a fanatastically successful film on DVD and free TV, and Zaentz has a very lucrative deal based on his selling the Movie rights to Lord of the Rings to Peter Jackson.

Contractually, at least in the Granada case, he would have a very solid claim to that money (in his contract he is owed 5% of all profits in film and merchandising), Granada's position is that the film has never made money and he is thus owed no profits. His business manager seems to think that ridiculous and I'm inclined to agree, but I don't know the facts of the case.