Rightscenter unveils new discovery tools to help Hollywood find adaptable books and verify rights, as literary adaptations dominate awards season.
LOS ANGELES , CA, UNITED STATES, January 28, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — As book-based films and series continue to dominate Hollywood, Rightscenter, the only standalone database and research service dedicated exclusively to literary IP rights availability, has expanded its role from a destination for rights verification to a powerful engine for discovering adaptable literary properties, such as books, short stories, comics, plays and magazine articles. Rightscenter’s new discovery features enhance existing search functionality, allowing industry professionals to confirm film and television rights availability and contacts for literary IP, and now identify adaptable properties that fit their exact needs.
This awards season has once again underscored the cultural power of stories originally born on the page. Recent Academy Award nominees rooted in literary works including Hamnet, Secret Agent, and One Battle After Another, which all picked up Awards at the Golden Globes, as well as Train Dreams, and Frankenstein, follow a growing lineage of critically acclaimed adaptations, demonstrating how publishing continues to shape the film and television landscape. Yet despite surging demand, determining whether rights are truly available and who controls them, remains one of film and TV development’s biggest challenges.
“I started Rightscenter with two partners after years of working in development and experiencing firsthand how fragmented and inefficient the process of chasing books and articles for adaptation could be,” said Emily Parker, CEO of Rightscenter. “We built the platform to remove that friction and give both filmmakers and rights holders a clearer, more reliable way to move projects forward.”
Unlike traditional static databases, Rightscenter pairs comprehensive listings with on demand, concierge-level research. Subscribers can request new titles not yet listed, re-check existing properties, and access context around prior development activity. Every record is timestamped to reflect when it was last verified. Historically, Rightscenter served as the definitive destination once a writer, director, producer, or executive already had a specific title or author in mind. The platform’s latest evolution expands that mission.
“As Hollywood increasingly turns to books as a primary engine for dynamic storytelling, Rightscenter breaks down the barriers involved in pursuing literary IP for development,” added Anne-Elisa Schaffer, President of Rightcenter. “Now we’re no longer just the place you go to see if a book’s film or television rights are available, we’re also the place where you can discover what’s available.”
Rightscenter’s enhanced discovery tools allow users to search across literary IP using highly precise combinations and exclusions of genre, story elements, format, audience, keywords, and prior option history. Using Rightcenter’s proprietary genre/element tags, including attributes typically not found in the publisher’s metadata, allows development teams to identify and discover exactly the kind of material they’re seeking without wading through overwhelming results. Studios searching for franchise potential can filter for a series, while independent filmmakers can uncover backlist titles no longer subject to the frenzy of heated bidding wars and public domain works which are free to adapt.
The improved platform also integrates proprietary insights drawn from decades of experience as Hollywood’s trusted literary IP research partner. Users can identify industry trends and uncover overlooked and undiscovered gems by sorting data to see record views that show which properties are the most searched and have attracted the most interest.
Founded and operated by former development executives, media rights agents, managers, and Hollywood book scouts, Rightscenter maintains an authoritative database comprised of more than 25 years of research on hundreds of thousands of books, short stories, comics/graphic novels, plays, and articles, serving several hundred subscribing users across entertainment companies, including major film and television studios, production companies, management firms, agencies, scouts, publishers and indie filmmakers. Rightscenter gives back to the entertainment community via support for filmmaker labs and university film programs.
ABOUT RIGHTSCENTER
Rightscenter is the only literary IP resource that combines direct submissions and updates from rights holders with an expert research team of former development executives, media rights agents, managers, and Hollywood book scouts. Rightscenter was founded in 1999 by Emily Parker and other entertainment industry veterans; Anne-Elisa Schaffer joined in 2015. www.rightscenter.com.
Alexis Florio
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