It’s a novel idea: Toronto and L.A.-based agency Meridian Artists is expanding into the book industry.

To accommodate its expanded remit, Meridian – which previously exclusively represented screenwriters, producers and directors – has hired veteran book agent Amy Moore-Benson.

Moore-Benson, who will be based in Toronto, is bringing her clients to Meridian, as well as a back catalogue of IP rights for film and television, which will be made available to Meridian clients.

“We’re looking for new opportunities for our clients in film and TV, and the publishing industry offers an enormous amount of IP that we can channel into film and entertainment,” Glenn Cockburn, founder of Meridian Artists, told Playback Daily.

The company’s goal is to give its writers more access to authors and IP that can be developed and adapted, in addition to giving them access to the publishing industry should they have any interest in publishing or writing a book, Cockburn explained. The expanded market will also mean the company has an additional avenue for the development of ideas developed within its ecosystem.

“Sometimes you find a really good idea and you sell it to a producer. But if we don’t find the right producer for a project, there’s no reason we couldn’t take that same idea and see if there’s a publisher that would like it,” he said.

Moore-Benson began her publishing career at Harlequin Enterprises, where she helped launch MIRA books, the publisher’s fiction imprint. Following this, in 2004, Moore-Benson founded her own literary agency, AMB Literary Management.

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