Jurassic Park (1993)
Bob Bookman’s partnership with Michael Crichton would evolve into one of the most influential book-to-film deals in Hollywood history. Through a calculated sales strategy, Bookman preserved creative leverage, attracted top talent, and laid the groundwork for a franchise that would reshape the studio landscape.
Bob Bookman’s relationship with Michael Crichton initially began not with dinosaurs but with medicine. After signing Crichton, Bob reviewed a script the author had written years earlier titled E.R. Seeing its potential only as a television pilot – at a time when television did not yet carry its later prestige – Bob set it aside.
Flash forward nearly 15 years, Bob received a call from Deb Newmyer, then working with Steven Spielberg. Spielberg had learned of Crichton’s E.R. script and expressed interest in optioning it as a feature. Bob assumed Spielberg would set the project up at his usual home studio, Universal. But Newmyer informed him that Spielberg wanted to take it to Warner Bros., so Bob made the deal there.
Michael Crichton (Left) with Steven Spielberg (Right).
While Crichton continued revising E.R, he was working on his new novel: Jurassic Park. When Crichton delivered the manuscript to Bob, he immediately sensed its enormous potential. Bob then proceeded to craft a competitive sales strategy. Rather than shop the book directly to studios, Bob secured the commitment of top directors — including Spielberg, Paul Verhoeven, and Richard Donner — then paired each with a major studio. Each studio was required to accept significant upfront terms, including a seven-figure commitment against first-dollar gross, to enter into a creative conversation with Crichton, who would decide who he would sell it to based on the director’s presentation. Thus Crichton retained the authority to select his creative partner — a deliberate approach by Bob that preserved key industry relationships for him while allowing Crichton to decide who he wanted to make the film.
After creative conversations with each director, Crichton ultimately chose Spielberg, and Bob secured the Jurassic Park deal at Universal. Under the terms of Bob’s deal, revenue streams for merchandising and video game rights were separately accounted – a critical element that would prove enormously valuable for Crichton as the franchise exploded. Curiously, Spielberg’s interest in developing E.R. as a feature quietly evaporated once he secured Jurassic Park, leaving the medical drama shelved at Warner Bros. until it was later revived as a television series. Hmmm.
The success of Jurassic Park led to Crichton writing a sequel, The Lost World, prompting a fresh round of negotiations. Bob secured another strong first-dollar gross position for Crichton, ensuring the author’s continued participation in the project’s enormous financial success.
A still from 2020’s The Right Stuff.