A couple days ago, I blogged about the unabridged author-reading of Peter S Beagle's classic novel "The Last Unicorn." Now, Connor Cochran, Beagle's business manager, writes in with this grim news about Beagle being ripped off by the British company that adapted his novel for animation, and Beagle's difficulty in fighting back due to his general pennilessness:
London-based Granada Media has sold more than 600,000 DVDs and videotapes of THE LAST UNICORN worldwide, made multiple cable and satellite deals for same, and sold the live action remake rights for a quarter of a million dollars. Yet despite this great success, they refuse to pay Peter what he is owed under his contract. After two years of trying to reach an amicable settlement, with no progress, it is clear that Peter will only get what he is due by going to court. Unfortunately, there is no way for Peter to do so without outside support. Just about everything he earns right now goes to take care of his 100 year-old mother.
Anyway, right now he has nothing with which to hire the attorneys and accountants he will need to either beat Granada in court or force them to negotiate. So we need to get the word out to as many professionals and fans as possible, to generate public support, contributions to the legal fund, letter-writing campaigns to Granada execs, etc. (We've just gotten started, but so far both Christopher Lee and Rene Auberjenois, two of the voiceover actors from THE LAST UNICORN, have agreed to help. That's exciting.)
Beagle's written a limited-edition sequel to The Last Unicorn that you can buy here.
