Runaway bride and Hostage Hero...To make millions

ATLANTA - One woman broke the law. The other helped catch a killer. Both are selling their stories and could make millions in the process.

Representatives of Ashley Smith — whose 911 call led police to courthouse shootings suspect Brian Nichols — and runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks made deals for their stories with publishing houses in the past week.The women likely received advances of about $500,000 for story rights that could turn into a windfall of millions of dollars should movies on their lives be made, entertainment experts said. The companies that acquired the rights have declined to release financial details of the deals...

Smith and Wilbanks weren’t the only ones striking high profile deals. On Thursday, Mark Felt, the former FBI deputy director who revealed himself as Deep Throat, chose PublicAffairs Books to release his memoir and Universal Pictures optioned the 91-year-old’s story. Literary agents have said the book rights alone for the story of The Washington Post’s secret Watergate investigation source could be worth $1 million.