Film Gecko

The Last Unicorn

by Administrator on October 2nd, 2005

On a sadder note, Hollywood is not the benevolent mistress that it likes to make itself out to be. We all know that these things happen, but I suppose it strikes a little closer to home when you have some sort of emotional attachment to the movie.

I was thrilled to see that the original book version of The Last Unicorn, a movie that I had enjoyed as a child and since seen as an adult (oh how cheesy things look from a different perspective!), was available in .mp3 format from Conlan Press. I think all of us 80’s children remember the voice talents of Jeff Bridges, Mia Farrow, Angela Landsbury, and others, telling the tale of a unicorn’s quest to discover what has happened to her kind. In her travels she meets an odd assortment of characters that either help or hinder her as she tries to fight an evil king who is trying to round out his unicorn collection.

The person who wrote the screenplay for this film and also the book was one Peter S. Beagle, whom, I’m sad to say, neither fame nor fortune visited. In response to a blog post about the .mp3 version, Beagle’s business manager wrote in to expose the swindling of his client by the British company who adapted his work for animation. The following is an excerpt of the letter:

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.)

I’m not going to take sides on this, I haven’t seen the contract or know the details of the squabble, but I will say that even the possibility of this having happened makes my little six year old heart ache. More on Beagle and his plight can be found at the Conlan Press site.

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