Author Solutions, Inc., Announces iUniverse Title Optioned by Film Producer Paula Wagner

Producer of Mission: Impossible I, II and III, Vanilla Sky, Last Samurai Options Rights to Book Discovered at ASI’s Inaugural Book-to-Screen PitchFest in Los Angeles

(PRWEB) September 14, 2011

Author Solutions, Inc. (ASI), the world leader in indie book publishing, is pleased to announce that prominent Hollywood producer Paula Wagner has optioned the film, television and stage rights to the iUniverse title INTERNET DATES FROM HELL by Trisha Ventker. The book was presented to Ms. Wagner, producer of such films as “Mission: Impossible” I, II and III, “Vanilla Sky,” “The Others” and “The Last Samurai,” after Ventker pitched the property to various Hollywood executives at ASI’s inaugural Book-to-Screen PitchFest, held July 22-23 in Los Angeles.

“I’m always looking for projects with real audience appeal, and with Internet dating being such a part of our techno-centric world, I was immediately drawn to Trisha's personal journey of life and love online," Wagner said.

INTERNET DATES FROM HELL focuses on Ventker’s true-life pursuit for love online. A kindergarten teacher from Long Island, Ventker moved to Manhattan on her thirtieth birthday to find the man of her dreams. The story follows her quest of weeding through the various colorful characters she met online. ASI Director of Film and New Media Marcus Chait felt immediately Ventker’s book was a potential winner and would appeal to Wagner.

“After hearing Trisha’s pitch, I had a strong feeling that Paula would respond to the innate humor and drama of the story, as well as the timeliness of the subject matter,” Chait said. “The fact that we were able to connect one of our indie authors with a producer of Paula’s caliber via Book-to-Screen PitchFest is fantastic.”

Ventker’s book is the first optioned from the July event, though numerous others pitched by authors have drawn some preliminary interest and are currently under consideration. The event was such a popular success with both authors and Hollywood executives that ASI has scheduled a second event, October 28-29 at the Marriott Marquis on New York’s Times Square.

“With more than 140,000 titles in our library, we knew we had books that Hollywood would find valuable,” said Kevin Weiss, ASI president and CEO. “We launched Book-to-Screen PitchFest to make it easier for those stories to be discovered; having Trisha’s book optioned by someone as respected as Ms. Wagner is thrilling.”

For more information on Author Solutions, Inc. and its leadership of indie and digital book publishing, log on to authorsolutions.com.

About Author Solutions, Inc.
Author Solutions, Inc. (ASI) is owned by Bertram Capital and is the world leader in indie book publishing—the fastest-growing segment of publishing. ASI’s self-publishing brands—AuthorHouse, AuthorHouse UK, iUniverse, Trafford and Xlibris,—have helped more than 90,000 authors self-publish, promote, and bring to market nearly 140,000 new titles. Through strategic alliances with leading trade publishers, ASI is making it possible to develop new literary talent efficiently and provide authors a platform for bringing their books to market. Headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, ASI also operates offices in Indianapolis. For more information, visit http://www.authorsolutions.com and follow us on Twitter @authorsolutions.

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