What a Difference a Day Makes: Eoin Colfer on learning Disney bought film rights during yard duty

It was a particularly boisterous day on the junior yard — I was trying to calm down a bunch of boys arguing about a football, when my principal came out and said ‘there’s a call for you in the office’. 

Back then, nobody had mobile phones. I said I’ll call them back. He said ‘no, it’s your agent’.

Artemis Fowl hadn’t even been published at that stage. I’d just got an agent — I’d no idea anything was happening. 

All I knew was my agent was in the process of sending out the manuscript to publishers. I’d sent it to her a few weeks earlier, and been told not to hold my breath. I didn’t know it had gone to movie studios.

I went in, took the call. My agent had so much news! We had an offer from Puffin in the UK — that’d have been good enough for one day. 

But we also had an offer from Disney Publishing in America. For me, who’d written this book in my toddler’s room — I'd use the room when he was awake — these two pieces of news were monumental.

But then she said: ‘There’s more.’

She worked with an American-based movie agent and he’d sent it to three studios — they’d all expressed interest. This was way outside my expectations and hopes. 

She said the three would submit a secret bid and whichever the agent liked — not necessarily the highest money but the best conditions, the best reputation — could be the winner. 

This wouldn’t happen ‘til sometime in the afternoon in LA. As soon as she knew, she’d call me.

So with all this life-changing, monumental news, I went out and finished yard duty… It’s a really Irish thing, to feel it’s all going to fall apart.

After school, I picked up my son from the childminder and went to where Jackie, my wife, was working, and told her. She couldn’t believe it!

At home, we huddled around the phone — it was on a wall in the kitchen. We were thinking: what does this mean?

Up until now I’d written six books that’d all done well in Ireland. But I was still where I couldn’t concentrate on writing fulltime. 

We had our baby, and Jackie had just started a new business. We were really stretched to breaking point, time-wise. We hoped this meant I could write fulltime — maybe get a little seomra in the garden.

The call didn’t come until 11pm. The clear winner was Disney.

It took weeks for it to seem real. I was in a daze, very giddy that my life could be taking this unexpected turn. I worked out my notice at school. 

When the book deal was done, the UK wanted me to tour around to schools, libraries, interviews, in the US and Australia. 

The touring started in March and was very different to any experience I’d had before. It was a lot of fun but a lot of travel — and hard, being away from the family for months on end.

My whole life changed. Then the book became a success and the changes kept happening for years. It was a new life, not a temporary blip. My life became writing books and touring with them.

I always feel I didn’t really change — it was the same me doing different things. 

A lot of my anxiety lifted: with a young family, you do feel anxious about money and looking after your wife and kids. It’s a lot of responsibility. That Disney deal brought me some space: that side was taken care of.

The books before Artemis were all hits in Ireland, but the financial reward was small, considering every day I was writing four or five hours — which I loved. 

But I felt there were other things I should be doing... looking after my son, getting another job to make the bills easier, there were always jobs to do in the house. 

When I finished writing Artemis, I thought 'if this doesn’t get published overseas I’ll have to seriously think about what I’m doing — I can’t give all this time to writing books that are, in effect, costing me money'.

So once Artemis did take off, a lot of stress and guilt was removed. I could in good conscience spend my time writing books about leprechauns.

What happened in those 24 hours gave us security, opportunity to travel and meet amazing people and to live in a nice suburb in Dublin. 

Jackie was able to stay home and mind the boys, which is what she wanted. Both my sons are now going into the Arts, which mightn’t have happened if the Arts hadn’t worked out for me.

It was a real dream-come-true. I’d been teaching 15 years and what I’d always wanted was be a fulltime writer. That day gave me the opportunity to be able to do it.

• The winners of An Post Irish Book Awards 2024 will be announced tomorrow. Eoin Colfer’s Beanie the Bansheenie, illustrated by Steve McCarthy (Walker Books), is shortlisted for Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year (junior category).