For over 40 years, Stephen King has had his “Dollar Baby” program in place, allowing filmmakers to acquire the rights to turn any of his short stories into a movie for the cost of just $1. Unfortunately, the Dollar Baby program has now been disbanded, with its end confirmed on King’s official website: “The Dollar Baby Program was disbanded in December 2023. Contracts issued before December 2023 will be honored and will remain approved for one year from their instantiation, as per the terms of their contract. There will be no Dollar Baby extensions after December 1st, 2023.“

On his X account, King explained that the Dollar Baby program is no more because “Margaret, the Mistress of Dollar Babies, is retiring.“

Here’s how King described the Dollar Baby program in the 1996 introduction he wrote for the published screenplay for Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption, which was based on his novella Rita Hayworth...