Last Unicorn Sold To Benefit Author Peter Beagle

By Mark Hoerrner

His book, The Last Unicorn, was record-selling and stirred the imaginations of some of the greatest fantasy authors in existence. Neil Gaiman lists Peter Beagle, author of Unicorn, as one of his greatest literary influences. Unicorn was so popular that it was made into an animated film by Rankin-Bass, the same people who brought the world the animated versions of the Lord of Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien. In recent years, the film saw worldwide re-release of the film and then more recently, a completely remastered version that included updated animation and bonus features hit the shelves.

Life should be great for Beagle, but it’s not.

"Peter was screwed, plain and simple," says Connor F. Cochran, Beagle’s business manager and friend. "Here’s a man who wrote one of the most amazing books ever written in the genre and he’s being denied what’s rightfully his."

The dispute is contractual and as usual, there’s a horde of lawyers in the mix. Beagle signed an original contract for the movie that was sold to London-based Granada Media. When Granada bought the film, they believed that all royalty contracts had been fulfilled and that no further royalties on the film were due. In 1999, it re-released the animated film on VHS and DVD, quickly selling a million copies. Because of the dispute, Beagle has seen none of the money from the release.

Now that the new, improved Unicorn is out there, well, Beagle still isn’t getting anything from mass distribution sales.

However, Cochran and crew pitched Lionsgate Entertainment, the American distributor of the remastered film on an idea: let Beagle sell autographed copies through Conlan Press and keep the profits. Since the January 2007 release of the remastered film, more than 35,000 copies have been sold nationally and Beagle has managed 3,000 copies through the Conlan Press web site.

Both he and Cochran were amazed at the outpouring from fans.

"The blunt fact is that we weren't ready for anything like this—we'd projected maybe 400 unit sales by this point, not five times that number—so we've been fighting to catch up like crazy," Cochran says. "Every day we find some way to make things go a little faster, or some way to improve our customer service and notification, but it has definitely been a challenge. Right now everything that can be signed is signed, and we've gotten slightly over 1,000 units out the door."

Beagle is now seeing the first dollars of recompense for his movie rights come in through this collaboration with Lionsgate, though Granada Media remains in negotiations on the issue. In the world of business and rights, this is a David vs. Goliath situation in which there may not be any stones lying about for David’s sling. Granada has nearly unlimited resources and as such has no true need to deal with Beagle. Cochran and Beagle, however, are undaunted.

"There’s been some movement with Granada, but nothing has come of it yet," Cochran says. "But I won’t give up because this is one of those fights that’s worth fighting. So much of what you can do in a life is unimportant. This is not one of those battles."

Beagle’s hand is aching a lot these days as he is personally autographing hundreds of copies for collectors and fans. But it’s a good ache, he says, as the sales have not only invigorated his wallet but also his understanding that regardless of the darkness that has been before them, light has a way of piercing the veil.