Where There’s a Willa

How did producer Robert Radnitz (“Sounder,” “Cross Creek”) manage to get the rights to the late Willa Cather’s “Oh, Pioneers”? Following a film adaptation of her novel “A Lost Lady” in 1934, she decided never to allow another one of her books to be filmed--a stipulation in her will when she died in 1947.

“I was first aware of this when I tried to get Cather’s ‘Death Comes to the Archbishop’ in the 1950s,” Radnitz told us. “Over the years I’d inquire about one book or another but the answer was always a polite no.”

However, last year, while Radnitz negotiated for film rights to Elizabeth Speare’s Newbery Award-winning “The Witch of Blackbird Pond,” the publisher (who also reps the Cather estate) told Radnitz that he would talk to Charles Cather, the author’s nephew, about “Pioneers.” Cather and Radnitz met and a deal was recently reached, which includes consultation with the estate.

“It was one of my great dreams,” said Radnitz, “and I realized that I’ve got an extra challenge to do it right and with respect or Cather will be out of reach again.”