The leaden touch of John D. O'Connor notwithstanding, 'Deep Throat' W. Mark Felt has finally sold the rights to his life story. In a deal brokered by hotshot agent David Kuhn, Universal Pictures and PublicAffairs will pay almost $1 million for the film and book rights, including the rights to a biography based on "previously unpublished material" written by Felt post-FBI retirement. Aha, so he did keep notes!

According to WaPo, the books's working title is "A G-Man's Life: The FBI, Being 'Deep Throat' and the Struggle for Honor in Washington." That's not as catchy as "The Secret Man," I have to say. But the exciting part comes from the film rights: in an extra (er, sole) dash of glamour, Tom Hanks' production company, Playtone, will develop the Felt project (movie rights net most of the money, too. Follow the money!).

Two things: one, John D. O'Connor has somehow managed to keep himself involved (remember, Kuhn's his agent, too!) and he will be co-writing with Felt, who we can assume won't be hunched over a laptop for fifteen hours a day. Two, I can't help but wonder how much that Nation article had to do with this, if anything (the WaPo story says Tom Hanks has been interested from the beginning). Even so, remember that Observer story? No one was interested; everyone thought Felt's story had been told. Now it seems he had an ace up his sleeve the whole time. How did it all play out behind the scenes? I'd love to know the real scoop (so if you have it, pass it on! Rampant speculation counts, what the heck).

Also, another interesting point:

David Kuhn, a literary agent at Kuhn Projects who represented the Felt family in the negotiations, said the family chose PublicAffairs as its publisher not because of a large advance but because of its reputation for producing literary nonfiction.

Right, just like Vanity Fair was their first choice because of the dignity it would bring to the project...first choice after People and ReganBooks, that is. Whatever, I'm actually just glad that the Felt Family isn't coming away empty-handed here. And, if Felt's notes are good, he may just have a pretty interesting story in him (I mean, besides the one we're all going to be reading about on July 6th).

'Deep Throat' Sells Rights to His Story [NYT]
Deep Throat Family Cuts Publishing, Film Pacts [WaPo]
Related: Our Speculation
Deep Throat: The final word (until the books come out) [FishbowlNY]