Gay writer of viral real-life ghost story says he was paid nothing for film of his work

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Adam Ellis, a gay cartoonist whose viral August 2017 “real life” ghost story was adapted into a feature length horror film named Dear David, recently revealed that he received no payment for the film.

The film was based on a Buzzfeed article entitled “My Apartment Is Being Haunted By The Ghost Of A Dead Child And I’m Not Sure What To Do.”

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“The first time I saw him, I was experiencing sleep paralysis and saw a child sitting in the green rocking chair at the foot of my bed,” Ellis wrote. “He had a huge misshapen head that was dented on one side…. Right before he reached my bed, I woke up screaming.”

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Ellis then said that a woman in a dream told him that the child appeared each night at midnight and Ellis could ask him two questions, if the questions began with “Dear David.” Ellis asked the child how he died, and the child reportedly replied, “A shelf was pushed on my head.” When Ellis asked who pushed the shelf, David didn’t answer.

Ellis’ story went viral, gaining him over a million followers on Twitter (now X) and Instagram. His story was later adapted for film. In October 2023, it was released as a horror film by the entertainment company Lionsgate. The film features actor Augustus Prew playing Adam Ellis, a Buzzfeed cartoonist and writer in New York City who is haunted by the ghost of a murdered child. The film generally received poor reviews for being low-energy with few scares.

In a recent social media post, Ellis revealed that he was not paid for the film, despite it being based on his work.

“It’s legal. BuzzFeed owns everything you make there,” Ellis explained. “They initially sold the project to [the entertainment company] New Line, and I was supposed to get money when the movie was made. I had a contract for the New Line project, but they eventually dropped it and I assumed it was dead. I had long quit my job at BuzzFeed.”

“A couple years later I was informed they had regained rights and sold the movie to Lionsgate and it was going into production in a week,” Ellis continued. “I was never consulted or paid for this new project, which again is legal because BuzzFeed owns everything you do. It sucks but it’s all technically above board.”

In separate posts Ellis revealed that he has never seen the film. He also posted an image of himself wearing a t-shirt containing an image of the film’s title card with a low 11% rating from the review site Rotten Tomatoes.

On April 16, 2024, Ellis published a graphic novel horror anthology called Bad Dreams in the Night. The book became a New York Times bestseller.

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source https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/10/gay-writer-of-viral-real-life-ghost-story-says-he-was-paid-nothing-for-film-of-his-work/

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