Stephen King sells short story movie rights to Welsh film students for $1

Horror writer asks academy to send copy of the finished product

Stephen King (Getty)

Students in Wales have bought the film rights to one of Stephen King’s short stories, with the horror novelist asking for just $1 (£0.78) in return.

Blaenau Gwent Film Academy recently signed the dollar contract to adapt Mr King’s Stationary Bike, a story featured in the writer’s collection Just After Sunset.

The school won the rights after discovering a section on Mr King’s official website, titled “Dollar Babies”, which allows stories not already under contract to be made available to film students.

“We pretty much emailed his secretary, Margaret, and she came back to us in 24 hours, and we told her what we wanted to do, that it's not for profit, that our students would be making it, and she sent us a contract through which was signed by Stephen King himself," Kevin Phillips, a tutor at the academy, told Mashable.

Alfie Evans, 16, and Cerys Cliff, 14, from Tredegar in Blaenau Gwent, will spend the next two months working on the film script, with filming due to start around Christmas. Mr Phillips will direct, while a local actor has been cast as the lead.

The students will not be allowed to make money on the finished movie, but the academy hopes it can be screened at festivals and give the participating students a confidence boost. Mr King also requested a copy of the finished product as part of the contract.

Mr King’s short story is about a man who starts riding an exercise bike in his basement in order to get fit. To alleviate his boredom, he buys maps and plots a virtual route from New York to Canada, recording daily the amount of miles he has “ridden” towards his goal.

But as he nears his virtual destination, he starts having strange thoughts there is someone following him on his rides.

The students will use the backstage of a local cinema in Tredegar to mock up the basement, where most of the movie will be shot.

One notable film-maker to have taken advantage of Mr King’s generosity is Frank Darabont, director of the acclaimed Shawshank Redemption. He bought the rights to The Woman in the Room on a "Dollar Baby" contract in 1986, aged 20.