What happens when a literary work gets adapted for the screen? Writers dream of a nice paycheck, creative input, and a chance at greater fame, but the reality can go a lot of different ways. Join us to learn about the legal, financial, and artistic issues at stake for book-to-screen adaptations. Lawyers, producers, and writers will discuss what writers should consider before optioning a work and what to expect from the experience of seeing your work transformed on film.

Featuring:

Sherryl Clark is president and co-founder of Premeditated Productions, launched in 2024 with Entangled publisher Liz Pelletier. Clark and Pelletier will executive produce Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. She was previously President of Production at Crooked Highway and Head of Film at Bad Robot.

Caitlin DiMotta, partner at Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP, works with clients in traditional publishing, comic book/graphic novels, television, and motion pictures. Caitlin also serves as outside general counsel to Entangled Publishing, Premeditated Productions, and Tiny Onion, Inc.

Franklin Leonard is a film and television producer and the founder and CEO of the Black List, the company that celebrates and supports great screenwriting and the writers who do it via film production, its annual survey of best unproduced screenplays, online marketplace, and screenwriter labs.

Graham Moore is a New York Times-bestselling novelist and Academy Award-winning filmmaker. His novels include THE WEALTH OF SHADOWS, THE HOLDOUT, THE LAST DAYS OF NIGHT, and THE SHERLOCKIAN. His screenplay for THE IMITATION GAME won the Academy Award, WGA Award, and PEN Award.

Cheryl L. Davis (moderator) is General Counsel of the Authors Guild, where she oversees the organization’s legal affairs, including its in-house corporate affairs and management of literary estates. An award-winning playwright and TV writer, she is currently writes for the CBS soap opera “Beyond the Gates.” 

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The Association of Writers & Writing Programs’ 2025 AWP Conference & Bookfair is the essential gathering for writers, teachers, students, editors, and publishers. Join thousands of attendees, explore hundreds of events and exhibitors, and immerse in four days of vital literary community and celebration in Los Angeles.

Check out a list of over 600 literary organizations, small presses, literary magazines, university presses, MFA programs, and more exhibiting at this year’s Bookfair!

Visit the Authors Guild at Booth 440 to chat with staff, and bring a friend to meet us!