Akiva Goldsman has been offered US$4 million to write the screen version of Dan Brown's Angels & Demons, and it's the largest amount of money offered to a screenwriter for a script, and he couldn't have had an easier job.

So although this is great news for screenwriters everywhere, who can now demand some higher salaries in an industry that largely overlooks their major contribution to the finished film. However it's also a bit of a joke.

Sure The Da Vinci Code earned bags of cash at the box office, but it was critically panned (well who cares if it made money), and the writing job is far from hard as the source material is so close to a film script already.

I do think that Angels and Demons is the better book, and interestingly it happens before Da Vinci Code in the timeline of Robert Langdon's life, but it is destined to be second because it didn't sell as well as Da Vinci Code and Hollywood is all about the money.

So let's face it the news from Deadline Hollywood Daily through Cinematical, Goldsman is getting this high salary because the studio smell money in this book and they want to secure the best possible script to make the film return the cash.

However the possible side affect is that other scriptwriters can begin to ask for higher salaries using this as a watermark, one would hope anyway, and perhaps scriptwriters who come up with original stories might earn what they deserve.

Ron Howard is already signed to direct the sequel, and it's certain that Tom Hanks will reprise his long haired role.