"The 25 Most Powerful Authors in Hollywood"

An interesting story in The Hollywood Reporter lists what it calls "The 25 Most Powerful Authors in Hollywood."  There is a wide variety in the writing skills of these authors, but it all makes sense when you remind yourself that it is Hollywood, we're talking about here.  

This blurb from the article explains what the Reporter means by powerful:

The real superheroes of the industry right now? These writers — ranked in order of influence — whose books are source material for more than 300 movie and TV projects, have helped rake in billions in box office and revenue, and prove every day that originality, above all else, still matters

I am going to link to the entire article and list, but here are a few teasers for you (see if you can guess number one before you follow the link):

 2.  Stephen King
 4.  EL James  
 8.  James Patterson
11. Dennis LeHane
17. Hillary Mantel
18. Ken Follett
19. Nick Hornby
22. Cormac McCarthy

I've chosen this lot to highlight how diverse a range of writers is represented on the list...and, yes, how bad some of them are at their craft (two of these are on my "don't ever bother" list, but they will remain unidentified - unless you ask..go ahead twist my arm).