Venice Production Bridge Opens Applications for 2026 Book Adaptation Rights Market

The Venice Production Bridge has announced the call for applications for the eleventh edition of the Book Adaptation Rights Market (BARM). This initiative is open to publishers and literary agents from January 19 until May 25. The event itself will take place from September 4 to 6, 2026, during the 83rd International Film Festival of the Venice Biennale, which runs from September 2 to 12, 2026. The program is co-funded by the European Commission's MEDIA Fund. Selected participants will include 30 international publishing houses and literary agencies, with additional invitees through the VPB FOCUS 2026 program. These participants will have access to a dedicated space for one-to-one meetings with film producers attending the festival. Winners of the selection process will be announced in June. Unlike similar events at other film festivals, BARM allows invited companies to present their entire catalog for potential adaptation into screenplays, rather than limiting them to a single book. Producers registered for the International Film Festival with an Industry Gold Accreditation can request 30-minute meetings through the Venice Production Bridge website. These meetings aim to foster lasting relationships and facilitate agreements for adapting various literary works, including novels, dramas, children's literature, short stories, graphic novels, essays, and biographies. The Venice Production Bridge emphasizes its commitment to developing and producing diverse international and European audiovisual projects through this tailored initiative, which requires confidentiality from selected participants. A brochure detailing each publisher and literary agency, along with their titles, will be emailed to producers by early July 2026 to assist in selecting meeting partners. The VPB Office will schedule meetings based on participant availability. Participants will receive personalized appointment schedules shortly before the event. Eligibility criteria require that applicants represent the audiovisual rights for proposed titles, maintain a significant catalog of works by different authors, and propose titles that are bestsellers, new releases with strong adaptation potential, or unpublished works with high cinematic or television potential. Each title must have an English translation or logline. The call is open to European and international publishers and literary agencies across genres including children's and young adult literature, fiction, and non-fiction.