About me:
Born Eunice, Louisiana.
Education B.A., Georgetown; Cambridge; M. Phil, Ph.D. in comparative literature, Yale.
Career history: Professor of comparative literature, Occidental College; "Distinguished Instructor," UCLA Writers Program (1970-1987).
“Story merchant” Kenneth J. Atchity is founder of Atchity Entertainment International, Inc. (www.aeionline.com), which represents authors (fiction and nonfiction) in all media and produces their film and television projects; of The Writer’s Lifeline, Inc. (www.thewriterslifeline.com), which consults with authors in need of a bridge to the professional world; and of Finish Line Brand-Launch Management, a new division of AEI, which partners with business-minded authors to reach maximum markets in all media.
Known for “outside the box” thinking, Ken has produced nearly thirty films for his clients and has sold numerous books in all categories, including 15 bestsellers. AEI’s most recent films include “Gospel Hill,” “Hittin’ the Bricks” (for AEI’s client Noire), “The Madam’s Family” (CBS), “Life or Something Like It,” and “Joe Somebody.” .Films in development include “Ripley’s Believe-It-Or-Not!” starring Jim Carrey, Chris Columbus (“Narnia”) directing (Paramount), “Demon Keeper,” Sam Fell (“Flushed Away”) directing (Fox), “3 Men Seeking Monsters,” Mark Steven Johnson (“Ghost Rider”) directing (Universal). AEI produces reality shows in partnership with Renegade (“Blind Date”), and has several shows in development for its brand clients. AEI has associate managers in 29 countries, and nearly every state in the U.S.
Actively working with his authors to help them not only maximize revenue from their book royalties and film revenues, from his experience with launching Noire, Ripley’s, Demon Keeper, and, most recently, Nik Halik’s The Thrillionaires (www.thethrillionaires.com) and Dracula: The Un-Dead (www.draculatheun-dead.com), Ken now provides brand franchising partnership services for selective clients that focus, integrate, evaluate and launches brands in all media: publishing, filmed entertainment (movies, TV series, reality, mobile streaming, web streaming, documentary), internet, music, public speaking, and merchandising & licensing to build ongoing and multiple pillars of revenue for the client’s intellectual property.
Ken’s over forty years experience as a writer, editor, professor, manager, and producer have allowed him to form a wide network of international relationships contacts that allow him to create the most productive and positive team for his clients’ works. “We keep an open mind, and an eye on rapidly changing events to allow us to protect our clients’ interests. Amid the turmoil changing channels of delivery one thing remains constant in the story marketplace: the worldwide demand for great stories and important information, which makes creating and owning intellectual property an even more stable opportunity than owning and developing real estate. The important thing for authors is to pursue the right strategy, so the tactics will fall into place to make it all happen."
Ken did his undergraduate work at Georgetown, and Ph.D. at Yale. In his first career he was professor of comparative literature at Occidental College, Distinguished Instructor at UCLA’s Writers Program, and Fulbright Professor to the University of Bologna. He was a featured columnist at The Los Angeles Times Book Review, and co-founded and edited Dreamworks: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly about dreams & the arts and is the author of fourteen books, including How to Publish Your Novel, Writing Treatments That Sell, and A Writer’s Time.
Dr. Atchity is a regular at Mark Victor Hansen’s Mega Book Marketing University, and speaks at writers conferences throughout the world.
Author of 13 books, including A Writer's Time - A Guide to the Creative Process, from Vision Through Revision (Norton), The Mercury Transition - Career Change Through Entrepreneurship (Longmeadow), and (with Chi-Li Wong) Writing Treatments That Sell Your Ideas To Films and Television.
Producer of 20 films for video, television, and theater, including "Champagne for Two" (Cinemax-HBO), "Amityville The Evil Escapes" (NBC), "Shadow of Obsession" (NBC), and "Falling Over Backwards."
Subjects/categories most enthusiastic about managing and producing: Fiction that can be made into TV or feature films; outstanding screenplays; strong nonfiction, especially with film potential.
Subjects/categories not interested in managing or producing: drug related; religious; category romance; short stories; poetry; and children's
With more than forty years experience in the publishing world, and over fifteen years in entertainment, Dr. Ken Atchity is a self-defined "story merchant" - writer, producer, teacher, and literary manager, responsible for launching dozens of books and films. His life's passion is finding great storytellers and turning them into bestselling authors and screenwriters.
Ken has produced 28 films, including "Joe Somebody" (Tim Allen; Fox), "Life or Something Like It" (Angelina Jolie; Fox), "The Amityville Horror" (NBC), "Shadow of Obsession" (NBC), "The Madam's Family" (CBS), “Gospel Hill” (Fox), and ‘Hitting the Bricks.” Films in development include “Meg,” “3 Men Seeking Monsters” (Universal), “Demonkeeper” (Fox), “The Last Valentine” (Hallmark Hall of Fame), “Sex in the South” (Lifetime), nd Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not (starring Jim Carrey; Paramount). Full film bio at www.imdb.com.
His 14 books include books for writers at every stage of their careers.
Based on his own teaching and writing experience, Ken has successfully built bestselling careers for novelists, nonfiction writers, and screenwriters from the ground up. Clients include bestsellers Jamise Dames, Noire, Shirley Palmer, Tracy Price-Thompson, Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not!, Cheryl Saban, and Governor Jesse Ventura. Now, as chairman and CEO of Atchity Entertainment International, Inc., Ken's Story Merchant companies, www.aeionline.com and www.thewriterslifeline.com, provide a one-stop full-service development and management machine for commercial and literary writers who wish to launch their storytelling in all media - from publishing and film and television production, to Web presence and merchandising & licensing.
Ken was born in Eunice, Louisiana; and grew up between Louisiana and Kansas City, Missouri, where he attended Rockhurst High School (he was editor in chief of The Prep News), and was founder and editor of the St. Elizabeth young teen newspaper The Rumble. After receiving K.C.'s Mnookin-Brown American Legion writing fellowship, Ken won an Ignatian Scholarship to Georgetown University.
After undergraduate work at Georgetown (A.B., English/Classics, winner Virgilian Medal), and graduate work at Yale (M.Phil. Theater History, Ph.D. Comparative Literature):
He served as professor and chairman of comparative literature and creative writing at Occidental College (Faculty Achievement Award; published articles, reviews, short stories, and poems in major journals and magazines throughout the world).
Received awards and grants from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation
Editor of CQ: Contemporary Quarterly: Poetry and Art
Co-founder and -editor (with Marsha Kinder of Dreamworks: An Interdisciplinary Journal Devoted to the Relationship between Dreams and the Arts (authors published and/or advisory board included Joyce Carol Oates, Ursula Leguin, Ernest Cardenal, Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Paul Bowles, John Fowles, Hubert Selby, John Rechy, Stephen King, Georges Simenon, Carlos Fuentes, Eugene Ionesco).
Served as Fulbright Professor of American Studies at the University of Bologna
Distinguished Instructor, UCLA Writers Program
Regular columnist-reviewer for The Los Angeles Times Book Review (involved in establishing the Los Angeles Times Book Awards)
Vice-president of P.E.N. Los Angeles
Ken has made numerous radio and television appearances, speaking on creativity, dreams, and various academic and entertainment and publishing related subjects.
He wrote and served as on-camera talent for Synapse Technology's " Columbus : The Voyage of Discovery," and consulted for the Discovery Channel's series, "The Power of Dreams."
Several of Ken's screenplays are currently under option. One of Ken's favorite activities is reaching out to writers as keynote speaker at conferences. Conferences he's appeared at include:
CASE Institute ( San Diego )
Romantic Times Convention ( New York City )
Deep South Writers Conference ( Lafayette , Louisiana )
Southwest Writers Conference ( Albuquerque )
Austin Writers League Conference
Florida Bar Association ( Miami )
The Learning Annex ( Los Angeles , New York , San Diego , San Francisco , Toronto )
Honolulu Writers Conference
American Writers Conference
Southwest Writers Conference ( Houston )
Dallas Writers Conference
Loyola Writers Conference ( Los Angeles )
Open University ( Minneapolis )
University of California (Davis, Irvine , Los Angeles , Riverside , Santa Barbara , San Diego )
California State University ( Bakersfield , Los Angeles , Dominguez Hills)
Georgetown University
University of Houston
University of Texas (Dallas)
Rico University
Villanova
Swarthmore
Avila Writers Conference ( Kansas City )
Mega Book Marketing University ( Los Angeles )
University of Missouri ( Kansas City )
Willamette Valley Writers Conference
Women in Film ( Hollywood )
Women's National Book Association ( New York )
WOW ( Baltimore )
Ken's biography is listed in:
Who's Who in America
Contemporary Authors
Directory of American Scholars
Who's Who in California
Who's Who in the West
International Who's Who in Poetry
Who I'd like to meet:
Q: What's the best way for a prospective client to initiate contact with AEI?
A: Send us a query letter (with SASE) and 30-50 sample pages or a 2-line email to submissions@aeionline.com
Q: What is your description of a Client from Hell?
A: He or she is so self-impressed it's impossible to provide constructive criticism; makes his package impossible to open; and provides return envelope too small to be used.
Q: What is your description of the Dream Client?
A: He or she comes in with an outstanding thriller that's HIGH CONCEPT and CASTABLE, plus an outline for two more, and is delighted to take direction on the writing and the career.
Q: What is the most common mistake a potential client makes when soliciting you to represent them?
A: The most costly and time-consuming mistake is remaining ignorant of where your work fits into the market, and of who your reader might be... kinds of work (romances, light mysteries, episodic scripts) we're specifically NOT looking for.
Q: What can writers do to enhance their chances of getting represented by AEI (besides being good writers)?
A: Great writing, HIGH-CONCEPT, CASTABLE BOOKS AND SCRIPTS, and a determined, optimistic attitude ready to support a lucrative, lifelong career.
Q: Why did you become a manager?
A: Nearly two decades of teaching comparative literature (classics, Medieval, Renaissance, 20th century, mythology) and creative writing at Occidental College and UCLA Writers Program, reviewing for the Los Angeles Times Book Review, and working with the dreams of creative people through "Dreamworks" (which I co-founded with Marsha Kinder) provided a natural foundation for my new career. I made the transition from academic life through producing, but continued my publishing consulting business by connecting my authors with agents. As I spent more and more time developing individuals' writing careers, as well as working directly with publishers in my search for film properties, it became obvious that "literary management" was the next step. True stories, scripts, or novels, what turns me on is a compelling and dramatic story.
Q: What might you be doing if you weren't a manager-producer?
A: If I weren't a literary manager, writer, and producer, I'd be doing the same thing and calling it something else.
Parting words
Dream big. Don't let anyone define your dream for you. Risk it. The rewards in this new career are as endless as your imagination, and the risks, though real, are not greater than the risk of suffocating on a more secure career path. Invest in your career. If you're not willing to invest in it, why should anyone else be? Begin by learning all you can about the "business"of writing, publishing, and producing, and recognizing that as far off and "exalted" as they may seem, the folks in these professions are as human as anyone else. We're enthusiasts, like you. Make us enthused!
Ken's Companies
Louisiana Wave Studio
Shreveport, Louisiana US
Co-Manager
The Writer's Lifeline
Los Angeles, CA US
Founder and Chairman
Atchity Entertainment International, Inc.
Los Angeles, CA US
Partner, CEO
