Brandon Sanderson didn’t hesitate when asked about his ultimate dream project at his panel today during Celsius 232: “I want a movie. I want a really good Mistborn film,” he announced to thunderous applause from the crowd.
The bestselling fantasy author revealed that he still envisions his Mistborn saga as a feature film, despite many suggesting it would work better as a TV series. Sanderson feels a blockbuster movie event could have a greater cultural impact than a streaming series. In fact, he has argued that while it might be easier to get a TV show made, very few streaming series become true pop-culture phenomena—whereas a film franchise can reach a broader audience. “Everyone tells me to do it as a TV show,” Sanderson said, “but I still feel like I can make it work as a feature film.”
He even lightheartedly agreed with a fan who shouted “Video game!” as another adaptation idea, grinning at the thought of a Mistborn video game. But a movie remains his top priority.
Living the Dream and Setting New Goals
How does it feel for Sanderson to see his wildest dreams coming true? As he reflected during the panel, it’s surreal. “My dream at first was just to make a living at writing,” he said. In his early career, success simply meant being able to pay the bills by telling stories. Now, years later, he has blown past that humble goal “out of the water.”
Sanderson has become one of the world’s most successful fantasy authors, with millions of books sold and an ever-growing international fanbase. (His 2022 Kickstarter campaign for the now-infamous Secret Projects became the highest-funded Kickstarter of all time, raising over $41.7 million from more than 185,000 backers.)
Being able to write stories for a living was one dream; changing the publishing industry has become another. Sanderson noted that through his recent endeavors (like crowdfunding campaigns and direct publishing through his company Dragonsteel), he’s “living [his] dreams of writing stories” and also “making [his] dreams of changing the publishing industry happen.” He’s forged a unique path as a creator, proving that authors can find new ways to reach readers. According to Sanderson, he couldn’t ask for anything more out of life… “except maybe a movie,” he added.
Hollywood Pays Attention (Thanks to Kickstarter)
Sanderson’s record-breaking success has not gone unnoticed by Hollywood. “Once I did the Kickstarter, suddenly Hollywood went… oooo, money!” he laughed.
In the wake of that publicity, Sanderson says multiple studios and producers have shown interest in his work. For years, the author has been cautious about movie deals that might compromise his stories, but now he finds himself in a position of greater power. “The more popular I become, the more power I seem to have,” he observed.
He’s using that clout to ensure any adaptation stays true to his vision (a worthy cause indeed). Sanderson has made it a firm condition that he be deeply involved in the screenwriting and narrative of a Mistborn film. “My ask is that I need to be able to write the screenplay and control the narrative,” he said. Sanderson isn’t interested in a Hollywood deal unless he can protect the integrity of the story. He doesn’t even insist on veto power over casting or minor details—his line in the sand is the story itself. If a studio wants Mistborn, they’ll have to let Sanderson steer the screenplay.
Sanderson also believes any filmmaker adapting his work should be an artist in their own right who’s passionate about the project. Citing Denis Villeneuve’s respect for Frank Herbert’s Dune and Peter Jackson’s dedication to Tolkien, Sanderson said every author deserves a director who loves the source material. His own experience contributing to Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series has shown him some of the challenges of adaptation.
For Mistborn, he’s holding out for the right partner and circumstances.
Balancing Novels and Screenplays
One audience member asked the obvious question: with so many book projects in the works, would Sanderson really have time to write a screenplay for Mistborn? Sanderson admitted it’s a valid concern. After all, he’s famously productive with his writing schedule already packed with novels. He has considered this carefully. “I have structured my life such that if a screenplay came my way, I’d be able to do it,” he said.
In practical terms, Sanderson believes he could carve out a few months to pen the first Mistborn movie script himself, without derailing his book deadlines. “I think I could do the first one. It would take me some months, but I could do it,” he explained.
What he can’t do is spend years writing script after script for sequels while also trying to finish his novels. He acknowledged that if Mistborn were greenlit as a film trilogy, he likely wouldn’t have the bandwidth to personally script the second and third movies. His primary passion is still writing books and he intends to keep it that way.
For a potential Stormlight Archive TV series, Sanderson has a similar plan to limit his involvement to a manageable scope. He’s proposed that he would personally write the screenplay for Kaladin’s arc in the first season (roughly half of an 8-episode season, equivalent to one feature film’s worth of writing).
Recent Reads and Recommendations
Despite an incredibly busy schedule, Sanderson does make time to read! Especially works by his friends and students, as well as notable fantasy titles that keep him in touch with the genre. In the panel he shared a few recent reads that he enjoyed and recommended to the audience. Some of the books and series he’s been reading lately include:
- Fonda Lee’s Green Bone Saga: An acclaimed modern fantasy series (first book: Jade City) that Sanderson praised as “excellent.” He highly recommends Lee’s work.
- Wesley Chu’s The Art of Prophecy: Sanderson mentioned he read the first book in this trilogy by Wesley Chu. The third and final book is about to come out! (Fun fact: Sanderson and Chu have known each other since high school.)
- Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary: Sanderson finally got around to this bestselling sci-fi novel (from the author of The Martian) a few years ago and loved it. He gave it an enthusiastic endorsement, noting “it’s so good.”
- Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal: Sanderson recently re-read this Discworld novel (mentioning he likes to read one or two Pratchett novels a year) and evidently had a great time with Pratchett’s humor and wit.
- Joe Abercrombie’s The Devils: Sanderson just finished Abercrombie’s newest novel (The Devils, released in 2025) and was blown away. In fact, he said The Devils might be Joe Abercrombie’s best book yet. “His books are all good, though,” Sanderson added.
“I’m Cheating” (How Success Buys Time)
One of the more insightful questions came from a fan curious how Sanderson manages to be so productive. He’s writing multiple books a year, running a company, doing tours… all while balancing family life. Sanderson’s honest answer: he has help. In a moment of candor, he explained that with success, he has been able to “buy time” by outsourcing many everyday tasks that consume most people’s schedules.
“I don’t have to do a lot of the things that normal people have to do,” Sanderson admitted. For example, he has a home gym, so no need to commute to a fitness center. He and his wife hired someone to prepare dinner for the family each night, freeing up time and energy. He has assistants and a team that handle business logistics. In his early years, like any struggling writer, he had to do all his own cooking, cleaning, errands, and work a day job. But now, thanks to his success, he can “cheat” by delegating those non-writing tasks to others. All of this gives him more hours in the day to write and create.
Sanderson was quick to point out that this isn’t something most people can do, and it’s important to keep that in perspective. “It’s very easy to look at people online and compare ourselves,” he said, “but once you have success, you can buy time, which other people cannot do.” He urged fans not to measure their own output against his. “Don’t compare yourselves to me. I’m cheating,” Sanderson stressed, “I think it’s important to know that.”
Overcoming Writer’s Block: “Write It Poorly”
Sanderson told the audience that learning to get past those creative slumps is “one of the most important things you learn” as a writer. His personal strategy? “My solution is to write it poorly,” he said, describing how he handles those days when the words just won’t flow perfectly.
For Sanderson, writer’s block usually strikes when he subconsciously knows something is wrong with the story and he hesitates to continue in the wrong direction. Sanderson’s trick is to push through by deliberately writing a “bad” version of the problematic scene or chapter. Instead of staring at a blank page paralyzed, he forces himself to put something down, even if he’s unhappy with it. “One of the hardest things for an aspiring writer to do is to throw away some of the things that they’re writing,” he acknowledged. It is painful to write something knowing it might end up deleted. But Sanderson tells us to remember: there’s no wasted writing. “Everything you write will change you as a writer,” he said.
Payoffs and “Sanderlanches”
Fans of Sanderson’s work often rave about the explosive endings of his books—so much so that the fandom has coined the term “Sanderlanche” (a mashup of “Sanderson” and “avalanche”) to describe the avalanche of climactic events that typically conclude his novels.
At the panel, Sanderson was asked about how it feels to write those big finales, and whether it’s as overwhelming for him as it is exciting for readers. He smiled and said that actually, by the time he reaches the end of a book, it’s more relief than stress.
“When I’m writing a Sanderlanche, the nice thing is that it’s a relief when I get to it—because I’ve been planning it for years,” he explained.
The Soul of Story
Even though Sanderson is known for his almost scientific approach to magic systems and meticulous plotting, he humbly admitted that there’s an intangible aspect to great storytelling that even he struggles to define. “A book is much more than a plot,” he mused. It’s also more than just characters or themes or any single element.
Sanderson, who often gives lectures on writing, said he sometimes struggles in his lectures when he tries to pin down this ineffable quality. “There is a part of writing that is the pure art of it that I can’t break down. If you could break it down, it’d be programming,” Sanderson said.
“I wish I knew why,” Sanderson said, discussing how sometimes an author can do everything “right” by the rulebook and still find the story doesn’t work, while another time an ostensibly rule-breaking approach produces something transcendent. “It’s a soul. It exists outside the body of the text in some other space that I can’t quite touch.” he explained.
“I do think it comes from reading a lot and getting a sense for it,” Sanderson said of finding that magic spark. “It comes from listening to people a lot and getting an idea of realism… so that you can go beyond what characterization can do.”
