Thread 13: To feel disappointed after reading this in The Observer about the author and her husband from The Salt Path book and film?

[DisappointedReader]

The Observer's original exposé: The real Salt Path: how a blockbuster book and film were ...

The 12 Observer reports currently available online: The real Salt Path | The Observer

Raynor Winn/Sally Walker's statement: Raynor Winn

Thread One ^www.mumsnet.com/talk/amibeingunreasonable/5368194-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?^

Threads 2-11: Links all in the OP of Thread 12

Thread 12: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5384574-thread-12-to-feel-disappointed-after-reading-this-in-the-observer-about-the-author-and-her-husband-from-the-salt-path-book-and-film?

New posters joining us in the genuine spirit of our civil discourse welcome. It would be helpful to read at least some of the Observer items above before posting. There are currently 12 interesting items on The Observer website and linked to above.

To all - Please be extremely cautious when it comes to naming or implicating people and addresses not in the public eye or with no direct connection to the story, and around the understandable health speculations, especially where details are unclear or still emerging. Please do not engage with visitors who seem to have their own agenda and seek to derail. Avoid @'ing and quoting them as - from experience - this will only encourage them back to the threads. We have done amazingly well together for twelve very interesting, very serious and very silly threads so far. I can't be here as much as I'd like so all help with keeping our discussion walking along in our usual reasonable and respectful fashion is very welcome.

Have the sales or thefts of fudge gone up recently?
Will Simon's head ever turn up?
Has the shed of doubt yet burst at the seams?
Will the old charabanc hold up as a tour bus for our hip new band The Drive-By Scolders?
And finally, how much salt can we possibly cram into a giant pinch?

Keep to the path. No saltiness. May the fudge be with you.

That's an AI misquotation of an article by The Bookseller: it actually represents estimated sales figures for the books. She wouldn't get all that money, the publisher and agent would also get a cut.

www.thebookseller.com/news/the-salt-path-author-raynor-winn-accused-of-stealing-64k-and-fabricating-claims

Yes, it would have been a pretty low-budget production, but the very recognisable IP would have been a large part of its appeal to audiences.

A friend of mine got roughly a year’s salary (£70k ish) for her novel being adapted for tv.

Might be wrong but I read authors get roughly 2 to 3 percent of film budget so my guess is a couple of hundred grand. I don't think movies make anyone rich unless they are massive blockbusters.

So what do you think would be the distribution of that money between author, publisher and agent, percentagewise?
Clearly they have all profited enormously.

We all think the odds are thin, but in the absence of a copy of HNTDDD there's very little hard evidence to go on. To actually bring HNTDDD - sheep and all! - home to SW, I really think a copy would need to be unearthed.

Interestingly it's low budget movies like this that can make a fortune for the producers if they become runaway hits. Rocky was shot on a budget of $1 million and eventually grossed $225 million worldwide. Halloween was produced on a budget of $325,000 and grossed $70 million worldwide. For a Cornish connection Fisherman's Friends was smash worldwide netting £15 million.

It's much less certain to make a big profit with super hero movies with budgets in the hundreds of million.

Would this movie end up as a blockbuster though in reality? I have not seen it so can't judge but it sounds like a snoozefest.

I've been pottering through Apple Cider Vinegar on Netflix - which is very well made and fascinating in its own right - and the behavioural parallels are striking. Thank you to the pps who recommended on a earlier thread. I echo them, it's an illuminating companion study of potentially similar psychological profiles.

I imagine the producers were relying to an extent on loyal readers of TSP and its sequels seeing the film and creating word of mouth buzz. More Calendar Girls or other modest British film than Hollywood blockbuster.

Yes. You've put it better than I did. Spot on I'd say!

Calendar Girls is another good example of a low budget film that was a major success at the box office. It was made on a budget of $10 million eventually grossing $93.4 worldwide

GA/JI etc well known cast/actors. Not unknowns.

According the Business Insider it'll be around £9.5 million earned from the book sales. No idea on film rights - I think this is calculated as a percentage of production costs.
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-salt-path-controversy-explained-raynor-winn-responds-2025-7

Thanks - how much to Ray approx?

My son and daughter-in-law make independent films. My non-professional guess, with a £7 million budget, is that the author got somewhere in the range ofl £100,000 to 500,000 along with a percentage of future proceeds. Most of the budget money goes to actors, producers & crew salaries, equipment rental, accomodations, location fees, insurance, etc. Marketing is a big expense.

What description are you referring to? TSP says the daughter buys them a new phone before they walk.

I've never sold film or TV rights for any of my books (although my agent has had a couple of nibbles, so I'm ever hopeful), but people always wildly overestimate how much authors can make, even from quite successful books. When you look at the takings it looks impressive, but the majority goes to the publisher. Of the remainder, the agent takes around 20%, and then by the time you've paid tax on the rest it is nowhere near as much money as you think.

It's still a sizeable windfall, and the books will (you hope, at least with your own) keep on earning steadily, but if your royalties are paid six monthly as many are, and if you don't have a day job to keep you afloat, you have enough to live on but it's hardly a millionaire lifestyle. Particularly if you aren't much good at money management.

And if they sold the film rights then it's unlikely that they're getting a proportion of the box office takings - they sold the rights for a lump sum and that's all you get, whether the film takes millions or just a couple of hundred quid.

@Vroomfondleswaistcoat
When you look at the takings it looks impressive, but the majority goes to the publisher.
Could you specify majority, is that more in the region of 55% or more like 80% or whatever?
And how much of that would be actual revenue since the publisher also has a lot of expenses?

And if they sold the film rights then it's unlikely that they're getting a proportion of the box office takings - they sold the rights for a lump sum and that's all you get, whether the film takes millions or just a couple of hundred quid.
Which also means that the financial hit the film takes as a result of the scandal will not impact the Walkers at all.

Agree with your thoughts on ACV! I watched it a few month ago, and thought it was very impressive, with lots of thought-provoking themes to chew over.

From memory, my own earnings and because I can't be arsed to look up any of my contracts right now (sorry!) it's nearer Publisher - 80% Author remainder but agent takes 20% of that. Tax man takes another 20%. I usually reckon to have 40% of any royalty payment that comes to me.

It's not much good me quoting my figures as my books clearly don't sell anywhere near as much as TSP etc, but for clarity I have 30 traditionally published novels, some award winners and some which have (nearly) topped the Kindle charts. I sell in e book, paperback and audio format. My royalties are paid monthly and, were it not for the day job, I would only need to pay a very small amount of tax.

I agree, I'm.uncomfotable about it too. Don't think we should do it.

PRH must have known the whole TSP saga was fake. Because of Cooper.

It has been said repeatedly that pretty much the only thing a publisher's legal department cares about is whether a specific person gets libeled in the book and could go on to sue them.

So what about 'Cooper'? He is a named character in the book who does absolutely awful things to poor Raymoth, so PRH would have had to be concerned if those allegations are actually true (and even if Raymoth changed their names, their pictures were never secret so anyone who already knew them could have made the connection).

So Raymoth would have had to provide evidence that this actually happened, which they obviously couldn't
OR
they would have told PRH that the whole episode is fictional, Cooper is a made up character so there is no danger of him turning up to sue anyone for libel.

I get: 12th near Tinner's Arms, 13th field just before Portheras cove, 14th pretty much day off and camp Portheras cove (the storm surge), 15th Carn Leskys, 16th Land's End. So start date is wrong, or there's somehow an extra day written in the book.

Or shown evidence he was deceased. He died in 2016. There'd be no libel issue then.

So taken those figures Sally would end up with about 1.2 million to her from 9.5 in book sales, which is not bad, although somewhat lower than the 2-3 million I have read about elsewhere.
Would that 80% figure change for a huge bestseller? Is there a fixed percentage in the contract of how much money from book sales goes to the publisher, or is about percentage of revenue after expenses are paid?
Because I guess the expenses/income ratio of a book varies a lot depending on the amount of sales.