Unknown-ish authors are -- like Winston Groom, when he agreed to have Forrest Gump made into a movie, and got screwed by "Hollywood accounting" because he'd acc

Unknown-ish authors are -- like Winston Groom, when he agreed to have Forrest Gump made into a movie, and got screwed by "Hollywood accounting" because he'd accepted a percentage of the profits. Well known ones have enough negotiating power to demand a cut of the gross receipts and merchandising. -- Edit: A little more on the Winston Groom aside from Wikipedia: Winston Groom's price for the screenplay rights to his novel Forrest Gump included a share of the profits; however, due to Hollywood accounting, the film's commercial success was converted into a net loss, and Groom received nothing. That being so, he has refused to sell the screenplay rights to the novel's sequel, stating that he "cannot in good conscience allow money to be wasted on a failure".