Indie press and adaptation experts join forces to develop speculative fiction titles for film and TV
Elsewhen Press are excited to be the first genre-specific publisher to partner with adaptation experts Pendragon Works to pursue big screen opportunities for their titles.
Indie publisher Elsewhen Press is delighted to announce the start of a working relationship with adaptation experts Pendragon Works with the aim of bringing some of the best new speculative fiction to the notice of film and TV producers. Elsewhen Press is the first genre-specific publisher that Pendragon Works have chosen to work with, and are sure that the relationship will provide producers with the opportunity to develop exciting and innovative new speculative fiction projects.
Elsewhen Press is an independent UK publishing house specialising in high quality, entertaining and thoughtful speculative fiction. Founded in 2011, Elsewhen Press has published over 120 titles from 64 authors worldwide. Like other small presses, independence allows Elsewhen Press the freedom and flexibility to take risks on new authors and titles that may be difficult to categorise, innovative story-telling which might otherwise be overlooked. Indeed many of their titles have been debut novels, giving authors the opportunity to attract the attention of agents and larger publishers. Alongside the publication of their authors’ novels, Elsewhen Press has, since inception, offered to act as rights agent for those titles, looking to manage foreign language rights as well as derivative rights such as film, TV, audiobook and video games. But in such a highly evolved and competitive marketplace, it has become ever clearer that experience and good contacts are essential to get the opportunity to pitch a title to prospective production executives. Teaming up with Pendragon Works opens the door to those opportunities for Elsewhen Press and their authors.
Pendragon Works was established in 2021 by former Vulpine Press commissioning editor Troy Hewitt and media rights lawyer Omar Nasar, joined by writer and theatrical consultant Helen Watts and former ITV commissioning editor Asif Zubairy. Between them, they have extensive experience of both publishing and film/TV/theatrical production. With their team of story consultants, they specialise in working with publishers, especially small presses, to develop projects to pitch to suitable producers for titles that they think have a real potential to be adapted for other media. Unlike some other organisations that act merely as a passive matching service between publishers and producers, Pendragon Works are proactive at promoting titles with potential and they are keen to act as co-producers. They work closely with authors to develop pitches for those titles that are most likely to attract interest from producers.
Peter Buck, Editorial Director of Elsewhen Press said: “We are very excited to be partnering with Pendragon Works to promote our fantastic books to producers. As you might expect, our authors are very keen to see the characters and worlds that they have imagined realised on a big screen. We have been very impressed by all the people we have met at Pendragon Works, and are looking forward to working closely with them on upcoming projects. As well as increased opportunities for the new titles that we will be publishing over the next few months, we have an exciting range of existing titles that we hope will also prove enticing for producers.”
Troy Hewitt, Creative Director of Pendragon Works said: “As passionate advocates for the indie publishing sector, we’re delighted to support Elsewhen Press as their dramatisation rights management and development team. Over the next year, we’ll act as a bridge between them and the media industry, searching for exciting opportunities for their talented stable of writers. Our team will not only help demystify the world of film and TV but will also be actively involved in adapting some of their books. By collaborating with authors, we’ll assemble top-quality pitch materials to share with producers and broadcasters, with the ultimate aim of securing a deal.”