How to Buy Movie Rights

Co-authored by Clinton M. Sandvick, JD, PhD

Last Updated: February 14, 2022 References

Movie rights are either sold by a work's author or that author’s agent. There are two ways to buy movie rights to a literary work. This article explains how to buy movie rights outright or through the more common option deal.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Buy Movie Rights With an Option Deal

1
Secure the advice of an entertainment lawyer. Entertainment lawyers specialize in the legal aspects of the entertainment industry, including optioning film rights. Since they are so well-versed with the process, they are invaluable to those seeking to purchase the film rights to an established work.^{[1]
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2
Prepare a rights deal with an option agreement. This is the preferred method because you don't pay as much up front. The option requires you as the potential buyer to pay the author an amount of money for the option to purchase the film rights. The contract typically lasts for a specific period of time, during which you may try to get everything together to execute the production of the film. Once you are ready to produce the film, you will then exercise your option to purchase film rights.
- If the option deal doesn’t go through, the author may, depending on the agreement, retain the initial payment amount and any renewal amounts received from the buyer and still keep the movie rights with the ability to sell them elsewhere.
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3
Set an option period for the deal. This time frame can vary and can include extensions on the initial period of time that often require another payment to the author. Often, the option period will last 6-12 months. Extensions may last 3-6 months. You may also ask to renegotiate the option instead of ask for further extensions.
4
Establish the option payments. You’ll have an initial payment, which may be a percentage of the total purchase price, and the amount you’ll pay for any extensions included in the agreement. The initial payment may very likely go toward the purchase of the film rights once you take the option to buy them, but extension payments may not.^{[2]
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- Maximum percentage-based initial payments usually fall within 2.5 to 5 percent of the purchase price.
5
Include back-end compensation for the author in the agreement. The author may want a small percentage of the proceeds of the film to go to them, should you go through with the purchase and produce the film. This is generally a small percentage of those proceeds and can be negotiated prior to signing the agreement.
6
Determine the amount of any royalties you’ll pay to the writer for subsequent productions. These productions might include sequels, prequels, or even television series that are based on the original literary work or first film adaption of the work. There are some industry-specific figures for these royalties, including a royalty of 1/3 the purchase price paid for the rights of the original work per remake, etc. Television films and series may have different, yet negotiable royalty shares.^{[3]
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7
Include reserved rights in the agreement. You should make clear the rights the author reserves in the option agreement. These may include publication rights, the right to publish sequels, prequels, or other canonical works, or other rights. If the author has particular rights that he or she wants to reserve for him or herself, be sure to include them in the option agreement.
8
Sign the option agreement along with the writer and pay the agreed option price. You may need a lawyer to assist you in the signing because the agreement will be written using specialized legal verbiage.^{[4]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Buying Film Rights Outright

1
Search the registrations and recorded rights transfers for the work in the US copyright database. You want to make sure the copyright registration is under the author's name and that there aren't already any options, etc. The database goes back as far as 1978, so works made before then will not be listed online. To find works before 1978, you may need to buy a copyright report from a search firm.
- The copyright search firm will be able to you help you, but their services may be expensive.
2
Find out who owns the movie rights. Contact the author's publisher to see whether the rights to the work whose rights you want to purchase are available. Contact information for publishers is usually included somewhere on the work itself. If you cannot find the contact information, do an internet search to find the rights and acquisitions department.^{[5]
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- The rights and acquisition department should be able to tell you whether the film rights to the work are available, unavailable, or in the public domain.
- Public domain rights mean you can adapt and sell your adaptation without having to purchase rights from the author or the author's estate.
- If the publisher does not control the rights, check with the author's agent.
3
Hire an entertainment lawyer to assist you. Entertainment lawyers are experienced in the film industry and can help you with the process of securing film rights to established works. Hiring an entertainment lawyer prior to negotiations may make the process easier for you.^{[6]
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4
Negotiate to buy the movie rights outright. Once you have been in contact with the publisher of the work for which you wish to purchase the film rights, negotiate a deal to buy the film rights. This is a more rare way of doing things because it requires a complete payment up front, before a film has even been planned.^{[7]
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- Buying a film's rights outright allows you to completely control the work's film rights up front, except for any agreements you may make with the author's agent or whoever holds the rights before you purchase them.
5
Agree on the total purchase price and all the terms of the agreement in writing. The terms of the sale can include the buyer and writer retaining certain rights. These rights may include the role of the author or other person holding the rights prior to purchase (if any).
- The agreement may include rights to adapt the literary work into a major motion picture in addition to other routes, such as home videos, sequel or remake rights, advertising and promotional rights, or the right to change any part of the original work when adapting it into a movie.
6
Pay the writer the total agreed upon sum. Ensure that both you and the writer sign the agreement drawn up for the sale of the movie rights. Unlike the option method of securing rights, the purchaser would need to pay the full agreed-upon amount up front for the rights.