Nina Vida Gets a Hollywood Introduction : ‘Goodbye Saigon,’ the Huntington Beach writer’s fourth novel, won’t be published till fall, but the screen rights have already been bought.

An unpublished novel by Huntington Beach author Nina Vida has created a buzz in both New York and Hollywood.

Weekly Variety, the Hollywood Reporter and Publishers Weekly all took notice of producer Richard Zanuck’s recent option of Vida’s “Goodbye Saigon,” a mainstream novel set in Orange County’s Little Saigon.

The story of two women--one Vietnamese, the other Jewish--who set up a law practice won’t be published by Crown until the fall. But both Universal Pictures and Zanuck obtained copies of the manuscript shortly before Thanksgiving, and Zanuck (“Driving Miss Daisy”) won the ensuing bidding war, securing an option for a reported low six figures against a mid-six-figure purchase price.

“It’s very exciting, and I’m very pleased, particularly that it was Zanuck, because he’s such a thoughtful, serious movie-maker,” says Vida, whose first novel, “Scam”--a tale of love and greed in a Century City law office--was published in 1983.

In writing “Goodbye Saigon,” Vida says she was “trying to talk about how a whole community, in effect, has been transplanted from Vietnam and how they have shown such resilience and survival instincts--and that there’s both good and bad in the community. I explore both sides: the violence as well as the good, the gangs as well as the successful professional business people.

“They have this tremendous dichotomy in the community, as do most communities. They’re really not that unique, but they have their own specific problems.”

The novel--Vida’s fourth--is her first to be optioned by Hollywood.

“Zanuck was in Sun Valley skiing and his scouts gave him the book,” says Vida. “At the same time, Universal scouts gave them the book, and Universal wanted it. The auction started in the evening and by the next afternoon, Zanuck had it.”

The independent producer, who has a development deal with MGM, is looking for a screenwriter and director.

“It’s very exciting,” says Vida, who recently met with Zanuck for breakfast. “I’ll probably be a consultant on the film because of my familiarity with the community.”

Given the pre-publication buzz over the movie option, Vida is looking forward to the book’s publication in the fall.

“I think it’s going to be pretty hot,” she says. “Crown is just jumping up and down, of course. One feeds off the other: If there’s a movie deal, it excites book sales, and the book sales, of course, make interest in the movie.”