Below are answers to some of the questions Ian (that’s me) gets asked most.

Are performance rights available for any of the William Shakespeare’s Star Wars books or Pop Shakespeare books?
Thank you for your enthusiasm! I will try to be as thorough as I can, with apologies if this sounds like something a Sith might write. Several theater companies and schools have expressed interest in performance rights, but those rights are owned by the respective movie studios. At this time Lucasfilm (for my Star Wars books), Universal (for Get Thee Back to the Future), and Paramount (for Much Ado About Mean Girls and The Taming of the Clueless), and Marvel (for my Avengers collection) are allowing only a few scenes to be read/performed at book events where I appear. When I say “a few scenes,” I don’t mean specific scenes—I just mean that at my book events I read a few speeches and often will have audience members join me in reading some scenes. These movie studios have been clear and consistent that public performances or readings of any kind—whether for money, for free, or as part of a fundraiser—are not allowed. You may have heard of theaters or other groups doing readings or performances of my licensed books; up to this point, none of those have been authorized by anyone. While I appreciate the enthusiasm of people who write me and say, “I know your website says performances aren’t allowed, but…” my answer is the same: the copyright for these books are in the movie studios’ names, so performance permission is not mine to give. I will update the website if and when this changes. Thanks for your interest!

Performance rights are available for William Shakespeare’s Christmas Carol, William Shakespeare’s Tragical History of Frankenstein, William Shakespeare’s Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, William Shakespeare’s Dracula, and MacTrump. Contact Ian for more information.

Will Jedi the Last or the prequels ever be made into audiobooks?
As far as I know, they will not. The good people at Lucasfilm and Disney make the decisions about when and whether my books are turned into audiobooks. At this point, as far as I know, they have no plans to make audiobooks out of William Shakespeare’s Jedi the Last or the prequel series.

Are there other Shakespearean adaptations you’ve considered?
Definitely. I often get asked to write a Shakespearean version of The Lord of the Rings. Years ago, just after William Shakespeare’s Star Wars came out, I wrote to J.K. Rowling’s people and asked about writing William Shakespeare’s History of Hogwarts, a play written by Shakespeare (who was, obviously, a wizard) with Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin as the main characters. They very politely said no. 🙂 The adaptation I still dream of doing is William Shakespeare’s The Princess Bride, which I imagine would be a fun mix of the William Goldman book and the Rob Reiner film. Other thoughts along the way have included Star Trek, The Godfather, and Indiana Jones. I was even asked once, at a book event, to write Shakespeare’s My Little Pony. In reality, though many of these are very fun ideas, who knows what will actually happen?

Are you available for public events, like readings or signings?
Absolutely! Contact me for more information.