One dollar for a Stephen King quote?! That's how much Remedy Entertainment paid for the famous epigraph from the opening reel of Alan Wake

The mystical thriller Alan Wake, released in 2010, has a lot in common with Stephen King's books. The game even begins with a quote from the American novelist: "Nightmares defy logic, they're little fun, you shouldn't try to explain them, it destroys the poetry of fear."

Here's What We Know

The game's writer and game director Sam Lake has revealed an interesting detail about this quote.

It turns out that Stephen King sold the phrase to Remedy Entertainment for a token sum of just one dollar.

In creating Alan Wake, I really desperately wanted it to start with his [King's] quote. It was my understanding that he wanted one dollar for the rights to use it. [That was] so generous.

This quote was published in an article by King in 2008 and apparently appealed to Sam Lake so much that he asked the author for permission to use it as an epigraph in the game and got approval. It should be noted that the quote perfectly captures the meaning of Alan Wake.

It's worth noting that this isn't King's only such generous gift. He often sells screen rights to his novels for exactly one dollar.

Source: Eurogamer