SF writer Philip K. Dick died in 1982. He had suffered from health problems and while he was a critically respected author, I don’t think he had experience any major financial success. So my guess is that when he died his assets were relatively minor.
But since his death his reputation has grown and his works still sell. But more importantly from a financial viewpoint, there have been twelve movies adapted from his works (with four more in production). Presumably his estate owns the rights to his works and received payments for their use.
But who owns Dick’s estate? He was married five times and each marriage ended in divorce. He had three children (who apparently had three different mothers). I’m guessing his children own the estate and collect the royalties from his works but I don’t know if that’s true. Anyone know?
From here: “Electric Shepherd Productions LLC was founded by Laura Leslie and Isa Dick Hackett, daughters of the late Science Fiction author Philip K Dick. ‘ESP’ is the production arm of the Dick Estate, dedicated to the stewardship and adaptation of the Philip K. Dick library across all media. Along with their brother Christopher Dick, the daughters have owned and managed the Philip K Dick library since his untimely death in 1982.”
Dick’s assets were actually reasonably good when he died. It’s often claimed that he was never appreciated during his lifetime and that he barely scraped through at all times, but that wasn’t true during the last few years of his life. By the late 1970’s he already had a substantial cult following. He lived fairly well in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. He owned his own apartment and had enough money that he was generous in contributing to his favorite charities. He was able to spend money on a few luxuries. He wasn’t rich in any sense, of course. If he had lived just a few years more he would have been quite rich, given how much his estate has made from movie and book royalties. I’m taking all this from the various biographies of Dick that I’ve read.
Dick died in 1982, the year that Blade Runner was released. The film did come out a few months after his death, but he would have normally received an upfront payment for the movie rights, and this was a fairly big movie - not Star Wars big, but Harrison Ford was a hot commodity at the time; the film had a decent budget. The film was optioned twice, once in the early 70s and later the option that was used to produce the film was in 1977.
