Fox Searchlight and Miramax's genre/sci-fi label Dimension are understood to be vying for rights to radical media theorist Douglas Rushkoff's debut novel, Ecstasy Club.

Rushkoff, attending the International Film Festival of Rotterdam to deliver a lecture on modern audiences and new film and media techniques, said he is likely to go with Dimension following talks with producer Cathy Conran, whose credits include kids and Scream.

"I would be so delighted if she did this movie. Unlike those other Hollywood people, she sees this book for what it is. That's why I keep giving myself away to these Miramax people. All the others have been really stupid."

Ecstasy Club, to be published domestically by Harper Collins in May, focuses on a rave collective that moves into a warehouse in the Bay area and experiments with new technologies and altered states of consciousness. "It's a comedy really," says Rushkoff.

Rushkoff ruled out adapting the novel himself, but aims to be involved as a consultant. "They're not going to be able to get a greenlight in their own studio unless they have a 'name' writer," he said. "That's fine - Irvine Welsh did not write his screenplay I'll write it next time."

He is now considering or working on three projects: an screenplay proposed by director Yara Lee; a second novel entitled The Bulls; and a non-fiction book about conspiracy theory called They. Adam Minns