Pennsylvania Option to Purchase Rights to a Novel

• Category: Contracts - Purchase
• State: Multi-State
• Control #: US-1022BG
• Format: Word; Rich Text

Description

The terms of an Option Agreement to purchase rights to a novel vary. Generally they give the publisher first dibs on the author's next book. Some options are relatively benign, granting the publisher rights of first look or first negotiation (i.e., the right to see the next book first and negotiate for a limited period of time after reviewing it). Most often, the deal to make a movie based on a book takes the form of an exclusive "option" agreement. What that means is that the producer has acquired not the exclusive right to make the movie, but has acquired the exclusive right to purchase the right to make the movie. In other words, there are usually some conditions precedent which the producer needs to satisfy before they can actually go ahead and make the movie, the most important condition (from the author's perspective) being the payment of a "purchase" price. Why are agreements structured as options? Because the producer usually needs time to make arrangements to actually finance the making of the movie - and while the producer is running around trying to gather the money to make the movie, they need to "secure" the exclusive rights in the book, so that the author doesn't go and give the rights to some other producer.