'Amistad': Tie-Ins and Trouble
Judy Quinn -- 11/3/97
Spielberg's film on the historic slave rebellion prompts book bonanza -- and copyright lawsuit
The 1839 rebellion aboard the slave ship L'Amistad, which led to John Quincy Adams successfully defending the rebels in the U.S. Supreme Court, is a landmark early civil rights victory and a particular point of pride among the African-American community (as well as the name of an African-American press). But thanks to a tentative Christmas release of the Steven Spielberg/DreamWorks film Amistad, publishers and booksellers are expecting people will want to read more about this little-known historic incident.
"We're supporting all the titles being released," said Borders spokesperson Jody Kohn. Borders most heavily ordered the official and non-official tie-ins to the film from Penguin Putnam, which has a special licensing agreement with DreamWorks. These include Signet adult and Puffin mass market novelizations; a Plume paperback reprint of the 1953 nonfiction title Black Mutiny by William O. Owens, whose film rights were bought by DreamWorks; a Puffin hardcover nonfiction account of the events for children, The Amistad Affair: A Long Road to Freedom; and a Viking paperback reprint of Mary Cable's 1971 nonfiction title Black Odyssey. Kohn noted, however, that significant orders also were placed for other titles that are being issued on the topic, including Black Classic Press's hardcover reprint of Black Mutiny; a Harcourt Brace children's illustrated book; Linnet Books' The Amistad Slave Revolt and American Abolition; Lothrop, Lee &Shepard's Freedom's Son; and Pilgrim Press's Amistad: The Slave Uprising Aboard the Spanish Schooner by Helen Kromer. And Newmarket Press has just agreed to do a "celebration" book of the film, to include an intro by Spielberg.
"I think it's going to be a huge tie-in," said James Fugate, owner of Los Angeles black independent bookstore Eso-Won.
An 'Echo' in `Amistad'?
But as of October 17, a twist to the Amistad tie-in phenomenon appeared. On that date, author Barbara Chase-Riboud filed in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles a $10 million copyright infringement lawsuit against Spielberg's company, DreamWorks SKG, claiming the film lifts fictional elements from Echo of Lions, Chase-Riboud's historical novel about the events published by Morrow in 1989 (now out of print). This is the first case that her lawyer, Pierce O'Donnell, has taken on contingency since he successfully represented Art Buchwald in his suit against Paramount over the Eddie Murphy film Coming to America eight years ago. The closest precedent for the case, ironically, is a decision involving Chase-Riboud's 1979 novel, Sally Hemings, in which a Philadelphia court enjoined a playwright from distributing, producing or selling rights to his play Dusky Sally unless he paid license fees to Chase-Riboud (he didn't).
In the Amistad complaint, Chase-Riboud claims that nine years ago, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who was the editor of Sally Hemings at Viking, submitted a copy of her friend's manuscript to Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. Despite some correspondence, Amblin never optioned the book, but when Chase-Riboud saw a November 1996 announcement in Variety about Amistad becoming a DreamWorks film, she contacted the studio. Soon thereafter -- in what Chase-Riboud terms a "suspect" announcement -- DreamWorks said it had acquired the rights to Black Mutiny from Owens's estate. Chase-Riboud also claims that Amistad has ech s of Echo: the wealthy black character played by Morgan Freeman, for example, is her fictional creation, she says. The shooting script of Amistad also refers to a previous version of the script called "The Other Lion," a similarity to Chase-Riboud's title that has not been explained satisfactorily, said the author.
DreamWorks counsel Bert Fields had this statement: "Ms. Chase-Riboud's claim is totally without merit. She can no more stop people from doing a film about Amistad any more than she could prevent them from writing about George Washington or the Battle of Gettysburg. It's American history, and she d sn't own it. [Amistad producer] Debbie Allen was working on this film years before Ms. Chase-Riboud even published her book, and her book is only one of a number of books on the subject. In fact, one of those other books is owned by DreamWorks. This film was developed by a distinguished team of African-American scholars and filmmakers. It depicts an important event in American history, and particularly African-American history. Ms. Chase-Riboud should be supporting this project, not trying to stop in order to grab some money for herself." Owens estate agent Evva Pryor told PW that Allen had optioned Black Mutiny in the 1980s and then again in 1995, with the 1996 DreamWorks deal merely a transfer of rights.
DreamWorks has 30 days after the lawsuit file date to respond to complaint items or to file a motion to dismiss. Chase-Riboud was alarmed to learn from PW that novelizations are being published, since this was something DreamWorks promised not to do in the settlement discussions, she said. She noted that she might consider legal action against these books as well.
Most significantly, Chase-Riboud could also start proceedings to try to halt the release of the film, although many believe that would be highly unlikely. "It's about money," bookseller Fugate said, adding that the latest developments don't taint the Amistad book potential.
Good Buzz -- or Saturation?
Indeed, buzz about the film has already benefited such books as David Pesci's Amistad, a first novel released by Marlowe last winter with a shrewd regional push in Connecticut just as Spielberg was shooting the film there, and Howard Jones's Mutiny on the Amistad, an Oxford University Press re-release.
And now that a gag order during the settlement discussions has been lifted, Echo of Lions is also available for reprint. Rights to the book, which never had a paperback release, reverted back to her during the "upheavals" at Morrow, Chase-Riboud said. Chase-Riboud has dropped ICM as her book agent, noting that the agency's response to her concerns over Amistad "were remiss. Their attitude was that they had not submitted the manuscript."
Lawyer O'Donnell would negotiate any reprint deal, although Chase-Riboud told PW she d sn't have great expectations, given the response she got when she was shopping the book prior to her legal action. "We took it to about five publishers, and no one wanted to publish it," she said. "They said `The market is saturated with Amistad books.' "
That's an assessment with which Fugate d sn't agree. "I think there were about 40 books that came out around the time of [the Spike Lee film] Malcolm X, and many did well," he said. And Black Classic Press publisher Paul Coates told PW that he's reprinting Black Mutiny (his hardcover edition features new introductions by black intellectuals Eric Dyson and Derek Bell), not just for film tie-in but "because the book holds up. It will endure."
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