In an interview with investment management service Wealthsimple’s “Money Diaries” series, “The Handmaid’s Tale” author Margaret Atwood reveals that she has made little profit off of the hit Hulu series adaptation.
She says that the show, which has won Emmys, Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice Awards for its first season, “was not my deal. I sold the rights to MGM in 1990 to make a movie — so when the TV rights were sold to Hulu, the money went to MGM. We did not have a negotiating position.”
“I did get brought on as an executive consultant, but that wasn’t a lot of money. People think it’s been all Hollywood glamour since the TV show happened, but that’s not happening to me,” Atwood adds, although she notes that she has benefited from increased book sales.
The author, who faced recent backlash for her op-ed voicing concerns over the #MeToo movement, addressed that in this article as well, calling #MeToo “a symptom of something bigger.”
“The same way having a temperature when you’re sick is a symptom. When you have a temperature, you think, there’s something wrong with me. What shall I do? That’s what #MeToo is,” Atwood says. “It’s a wake-up call, not the solution. Structural support for women was allowed to lapse. We were told all we had to do was wear more Chanel and smile a lot and lean in.”
To read the full interview, click here.