Prtsh asked Michael J. Sullivan:

Hey Mr Sullivan :) First of all thanks a lot for giving us such wonderful stories.When can we expect to see the adventures of Royce nd Hadrian on screen?

Michael J. Sullivan Hey Prtsh,
First off, sorry it's taken so long to answer your question. It's not that I was trying to avoid you or it, but this question was asked by a few people so I've been spreading out the answers so they are not all clumped together and your question came in at the same time as a bunch of non-movie questions which I took first.

Second, I'm so glad you have enjoyed the Royce and Hadrian stories. I think you'll be glad to hear there is a third Chronicle planned. I'm still working on plot issues, and need to finish up the fourth book of my First Empire Series, but then I'll be in good shape to concentrate on it.

As to your question. When can you expect...at this point I'd, sadly say, never. Yes, I have people working on it...yes there have been nibbles, but the gap between those actions and seeing something on the screen is much wider than the grand canyon. There are many steps along the way, and each one has to be hurdled to get to the final result.

The first step is having the rights optioned by someone you want them optioned by. This just means that a company/person pays a bit of money to keep the project off the table so no other company can do anything with it. They don't get to keep it "forever" but for a certain amount of time. Many, many, many books have been optioned...and have their options renewed over and over again, just because someone thinks it's worth a relatively small amount of money to keep it away from the other children.

Then there are those who option a work with the intention of doing something with it right away. Even though they have interest they need to herd a lot of cats including the "money folks", actors, producers, directors, screenwriters, the studio management, and on and on and on. Even projects that someone WANTED to have made (even very influential people) get stalled because they can't get all the stars to align.

My work hasn't been optioned yet...so I'm a long...long...way from even step #1. When talking to my agents about the reasons why it usually comes down to, "The books don't have a big enough readership." I've a bit more than half a million Riyria books...and while I'm really happy with that number it's nothing in the world of studios.

Most books get their big sales numbers early in their release. Then there are some that are "sleepers" that start out small and then eventually break onto the scene. I think my books are best classified as "good solid hitters." I can get on base regularly, but my home run numbers are dismal.

Are the books sleepers that will eventually "blow huge."? Probably not...and that's fine. They have more than exceeded my expectations. But at this point, I think I'm just going to have to keep writing and hope that eventually something will "blow big." If that happens then THAT book might be made into a movie and if THAT movie does relatively well then someone MIGHT want to pick up my older work.

As you can see there are a lot of "ifs" in all that, which is why I think the answer has to be, unfortunately never. But there is no harm in wishing...and I continue to do that.

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