The Indie Producer's Guide to Optioning Motion Picture Rights to Books

By Robert Zipser

A CLEAR CONCISE "HOW TO" GUIDE TO THE DEAL POINTS OF AN OPTION AGREEMENT FOR MOTION PICTURE RIGHTS
TO BOOKS INCLUDING TIPS FOR NEGOTIATING STRATEGY. DESIGNED FOR THE INDEPENDENT FILM PRODUCER AND OTHERS IN THE ENTERTAINMENT
AND LEGAL INDUSTRIES WHO WANT TO KNOW THE MECHANICS OF THESE DEALS.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483576749

Book preview

© 2016 Robert Zipser

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 9781483576749

All materials contained in this book are the sole property of the copyright owner and may not be reproduced, distributed, or disseminated without the prior written approval of the copyright owner.

The information in this book is intended for general education purposes only. It is not offered as legal advice nor should it be construed as such. The author strongly recommends that the reader consult with an experienced entertainment attorney to address each individual situation and the terms of any deal that the reader is planning to negotiate and any legal documentation in respect thereof.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Part of this book originally appeared in altered form in the August 6, 2013 digital edition of Filmmaker Magazine. The author wishes to thank the editors of Filmmaker Magazine for publishing that article.

Table of Contents

   Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER ONE: GETTING STARTED AND CHAIN-OF-TITLE

CHAPTER TWO: THE OPTION AND THE SET-UP BONUS

CHAPTER THREE: THE RIGHTS GRANTED

CHAPTER FOUR: THE RIGHTS RESERVED BY THE AUTHOR

CHAPTER FIVE: THE PURCHASE PRICE AND BACK-END COMPENSATION TO THE AUTHOR

CHAPTER SIX: REMAKE, SEQUEL, AND SERIES ROYALTIES

CHAPTER SEVEN: SCREEN AND PAID AD CREDIT

CHAPTER EIGHT: CONSULTING FEES AND OTHER PERKS AND REVERSION

CHAPTER NINE: SOME IMPORTANT LEGAL POINTS

CHAPTER TEN: SOME VARIATIONS FOR BIGGER DEALS

CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE SHOPPING AGREEMENT

CONCLUSION

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

APPENDIX A

APPENDIX B

INTRODUCTION

If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.

—Rudyard Kipling

It has long been said that the most important element of a great motion picture is a great story. For this reason, motion picture producers have loved to adapt books for the silver screen ever since the earliest days of cinema. The Last of the Mohicans, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Man in the Iron Mask were all originally made as silent films. Then, not long after the advent of the talkies, came such 1930’s masterpieces as All Quiet on the Western Front, Dracula, and Frankenstein, followed by The Wizard of Oz, and Gone With the Wind. In the intervening decades since then, Hollywood has produced a huge library of landmark films based on books that is much too vast to list. From Here to Eternity, To Kill a Mockingbird, Midnight Cowboy, The Godfather, The Bourne Identity, and No Country for Old Men are just a handful of classic examples.

If anything, Hollywood’s love affair with books has only intensified. In the 2016 Academy Awards, five out of the six Best Picture nominees were based on books: The Big Short, Brooklyn, The Martian, The Revenant, and Room. Of course, nominations and awards are nice, but, to paraphrase the old song, money is the studios’ best friend. Consequently, much more important to the studios, major and mini-major alike, than the above films are the recent mega-franchises based on young adult book series: Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games, and Divergent. The movies based on the books in those series have grossed billions of dollars worldwide in box office revenue alone. If you still have any doubt about the importance of hot books to the current Hollywood, I offer four simple words: Fifty Shades of Grey.

Now sometimes you will hear studio executives and producers grumble that acquiring motion picture rights to books costs too much. They vow to cut back on it.

Pay no attention to this babbling. Hollywood’s love for books will always endure for two simple reasons: First, books offer filmmakers ready-made wonderfully developed stories with fascinating plots and compelling characters; second, as shown above, popular books have hordes of rabid fans (often teenagers and nerdy adults) who will race to the box office so they can see the movie based on their beloved book and either praise it or trash it on Facebook and Twitter.

For these reasons, it is inevitable that you, the independent film producer, shall at some point want to acquire the motion picture rights to a book. This brief guide will set forth and explain the basic deal points of a book option agreement and also provide some negotiating tips to help you make a good deal. I will focus, for the most part, on the major business points of the book option deal although I will highlight a few legal terms. Other boilerplate legal terms such as assignment, governing law, modification, etc. are important, but can be reviewed in the sample contract I have included in Appendix A to this book. This guide is primarily intended for the beginning independent producer. If you are an experienced producer, you will likely already know much of this information, but hopefully there will still be some points that will be helpful to you as well as to the beginners.

CHAPTER ONE: GETTING STARTED AND CHAIN-OF-TITLE

What do we mean when we talk about the motion picture rights to a book?

You have surely heard this term bandied about, but you may not know its source. Under U.S. Copyright Law, specifically Title 17 U.S.C. §106, the owner of a copyright in a literary work is granted certain exclusive rights which he or she