[JoeFromSidney]

A friend of mine is a well-known science fiction writer. One of his novels has been "in Hollywood" for years. At SF conventions he sometimes speaks about the problems of getting a book made into a film in Hollywood. Too many people can say "no," no one can say "yes." The end result is that when a book does get made into a film, it's been blenderized first.

[Tolik]

One of my favorite authors Orson Scott Card has his famous Ender's Game in the works in Hollywood. From what he wrote about the process, I understand that he was able to retain some kind of critical control and has a right to pull a plug if the movie is not going to be to his liking.

It is in a striking contrast with Clancy, for example, who has his name in the producer (or executive producer) line, but allowed the movies that shift meanings far too much (I am talking first of all about The Sum Of All Fears with mushy Ben Affleck, but other movies while being not as bad did change some principal accents as well - I read all his books made into the movies)