AI Doubts Halt Hollywood Path of $2.4 Million Novel
The novel Call Me, I’ll Hide the Body, which Hollywood pursued for adaptation, found itself at the center of a rights crisis before it even hit bookstore shelves.
The author, who gained significant attention in the publishing world with their debut novel, sold the crime story to Minotaur/Macmillan Publishers in the US. Reports indicate that the deal covering the novel and its sequel is valued at $2.4 million. While an auction was prepared for international publishers, UTA began offering film and series rights to potential buyers.
This rapid rise was interrupted when representatives stated they could not verify the process from draft to finished manuscript.
The file contested by 14 publishers was withdrawn
An auction process involving 14 publishers in the UK was underway for Call Me, I’ll Hide the Body. Following the novel's sale in the US, interest in international publishing rights and screen adaptation reportedly surged.
Sandy Hodgman, who manages foreign rights on behalf of Europa Content, informed publishers in a message that the novel had impacted some of the world's leading publishing professionals, but they could no longer verify how the text developed from beginning to end.
Hodgman stated that they were investigating potential AI usage during the application phase and received assurances from the author that no AI tools were used. However, representatives could not reach sufficient verification to support this assurance, leading to the withdrawal of the book from the international market.
UTA's adaptation negotiations have also stalled
Reports indicate that UTA, which was marketing the film and television rights, and Europa Content, which represented the publishing rights, are no longer involved in the project. As a result, not only foreign language book sales but also the Hollywood adaptation process has been put on hold.
There was still no studio agreement or director announced. However, the presentation of an unpublished debut novel to cinema and television buyers by UTA indicated that the project had garnered serious commercial interest beyond the book deal.
For rights acquirers, the main issue is not whether the text is deemed good or bad, but the uncertainty over whether an undisputed transfer of copyright for the entire work can be made. If the creation process of a novel cannot be verified, publishers, production companies, and studios risk facing copyright claims later on.
The novel tells the story of a "body cleaner"
Call Me, I’ll Hide the Body follows a character named Femi Johnson, who works in body disposal in Lagos. Johnson, who goes to Houston to pursue a PhD in chemistry, finds his past skills pulling him into a dangerous cartel operation.
The story, which reportedly combines elements of crime and dark humor, quickly became one of the year's most notable debut novel deals. The intense interest in the text dissipated at the same pace as the emergence of AI doubts.
The author denies the allegations
The author rejected the accusations that they had written the novel using AI. They claimed to have timestamped drafts, handwritten notes, and dated WhatsApp messages showing the development of the work.
They also argued that different AI detection tools yielded conflicting results. According to the author, sections taken from some books published years before the rise of generative AI were also marked as high likelihood of “AI-generated” by the systems used.
This defense does not alone prove that the work was entirely written by human hands, nor do the results from detection tools constitute definitive evidence of AI usage. What has been verified at this stage is that representatives could not confidently confirm the production history of the text, leading to its withdrawal from the sales process.
The crisis has made a new rights issue visible
The Call Me, I’ll Hide the Body case shows that AI is not just a creative or ethical discussion for publishing and Hollywood. In a multi-million dollar adaptation deal, the buyer must secure the rights to the story before the story itself.
The inability to verify past drafts, editing records, and documents showing how the text was created could increase commercial risk in previously unpublished works by unknown authors. In this case, the mere inability to eliminate the possibility of the novel being written with AI was enough to halt a multi-million dollar publishing and adaptation chain.
The future of Call Me, I’ll Hide the Body is still uncertain. If the documents mentioned by the author are independently verified, it may be possible to re-list the rights for sale. For now, Hollywood holds not a popular story waiting to be adapted into a screenplay, but a file with disputed authorship and unresolved copyright history.
