Author Stephen King sells movie rights to student for $1

Thanks to a program by Stephen King, Welsh film students have scored the movie rights to one of the horror maestro's short stories for the grand total of $US1.

Author Stephen King has sold the rights to a short story - for just $1. Source: AP

Horror writer Stephen King is giving a deal to student filmmakers at the Blaenau Gwent Film Academy in Wales.

King sold them the movie rights to a short story, Stationary Bike, for $US1 ($A1.4).

Tutor Kevin Phillips - from the film academy - wrote to the author to seek his support for the story.

King replied within 24 hours and offered the academy a Dollar Baby contract - a program set up by the author to sell students his work for low prices - for just $1.

Blaenau Gwent Film Academy. Source: Blaenau Gwent Film Academy

Phillips told The Boston Globe the deal is "great for our students who are fans of his writing and a great scoop for the academy".

The story is about a man who begins using a stationary bike after his doctor tells him to lose weight because of high cholesterol.

Author Stephen King shakes hands with a fan as she buys his book, "Under the Dome". Source: AP

He gets in shape but begins "having strange thoughts" about being followed on his daily rides.

Marsha DeFilippo, King's assistant, said the US author has a program in which students receive permission to make a non-commercial film.

King's Dollar Baby program was set up to give back to the arts community.

"Around 1977 or so, when I started having some popular success, I saw a way to give back a little of the joy the movies had given me," he previously explained.