The Dollar Baby (or Dollar Deal) is an arrangement where best-selling author Stephen King grants permission to students and aspiring filmmakers or theatre producers to adapt one of his short stories for $1. The term is used to refer to the film or play itself, or the maker (for example, "The Sun Dog" was made as a Dollar Baby, or writer/director Frank Darabont was a Dollar Baby). The production budgets range from a few hundred dollars to over $60,000 (Umney's Last Case) and the film formats range from home video to professional 35 mm film. A book about the Dollar Baby films was released in July 2015 by Dollar Baby filmmaker Shawn S. Lealos. It tells the story of 19 of the Dollar Baby filmmakers as they talk about making their movies and their careers following their Dollar Babies.2021 mark