Jonathan Livingston Seagull (film) his beliefs. Eventually, Jonathan himself ends up becoming a mentor for other seagulls who are suffering the same fates in their own flocks as he once did. Director Hall Bartlett first read the book "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" in a San Fernando Valley barbershop when he impulsively decided to call the publisher, Macmillan, and then author Richard Bach, to buy the film rights. Bartlett suggested that the story needed to be told simply, without animation or actors, and acquired the property for $100,000 and fifty percent of the profits. He granted Bach final approval rights on the film and all advertising
Seagull Book acquired its largest competitors (such as Bookcraft in 1999), the LDS market shrank resulting in fewer publications and leading to downsizing. The "Tape" in Seagull Book & Tape referred to the store's marketing of audio cassette tapes, generally of recorded sermons and lectures of popular LDS speakers. Many of these products were produced by Covenant Recordings, or Covenant Communications, for which owner Lewis Kofford also founded Seagull as a retail outlet. When Seagull was sold to Deseret Book in 2006, the store's name was shortened to "Seagull Book". By this time audio tape products had been largely replaced by Compact