This image was lost some time after publication.

Simon Dumenco explores the Hollywood optioning system, in which studios buy the rights to magazine articles and ideas they could simply develop on their own. Huh, brilliant. A prime example is the upcoming MTV reality series Power Girls, which follows alpha-flack Lizzie Grubman on her white-trash hating escapades. The series is based on a publicist profile by New York magazine writer Vanessa Grigoriadis, who cashed in on movie rights for the piece, long before it was developed into a television series:

But did Vanessa ever really "own" the "Power Girls" story? Nah. She simply reported about the real lives of these obnoxious young PR vixens. She (well, actually New York) owned her words, but not the narrative. She lucked out and got a big check from Hollywood for her particular take on those gals but now one of those gals has decided, wisely, that she owns her own life, and can make a buck off of it too. How totally 2004.

Wait, Lizzie Grubman owns her own life? And she wants to cash in on it? Color us "totally" shocked.
The Dream Factory And The Idea Factory [Folio]