People like Derek Landy

Derek Landy (born 23 October 1974) is an Irish author and screenwriter, best known for the Skulduggery Pleasant book series.

Landy has written two screenplays that have been made into films, the IFTA award-winning Dead Bodies and the IFTA-nominated Boy Eats Girl starring Samantha Mumba. Landy himself was nominated for an IFTA for Best Script.

Frustrated with the collaborative process of filmmaking, Landy moved on to writing the Skulduggery Pleasant series, starting with the novel of the same name. The novel was published by Harper Collins, who paid £1.8 million for the publishing rights. There are 15 books in the series with 3 spin offs. In 2007, he signed a deal with Warner Bros. worth an estimated US$1 million for the rights to adapt his Skulduggery Pleasant series, which he intended to adapt himself. However, his script was constantly rewritten and Landy, unhappy with the results, bought back the rights. He sold the rights to another company which couldn't make it, then worked with another company that "petered out". As of 2020, he was working on an adaptation with an undisclosed film making company.