Based on a comic series?

Well that would be a good idea, I mean if you wanted your comic a movie their's no one better to write it than you, the person who originally did the comic, gives you a chance to tell the story how you wanted it.

Oh, and I'd do the Based upon the Comic by blah blah, gets your name out there for peeps who don't like comics

Depends on which appears first.

If the movie gets made, you could give the comic the tag Based on the movie. If the comic gets published first, you could give the movie the Based on the comic credit.

I'm sure there's a ton of legal stuff here I'm missing, but it's just my impression.

Depends on whether your comic book has been published and lots of fans are interested in seeing it turned into a movie. That's the only reason I can think of for mentioning how the screenplay originated. At the stage you're at -- comic not even created, let alone published -- it doesn't seem worth including this info anywhere.

Later, once your comic has enjoyed a successful run and your agent offers the hot property to film studios and prodcos, the agent will make sure that BASED ON HIS/HER GRAPHIC NOVEL appears on the screenplay cover.

-Derek

I wouldn't.

Unless the comic is published or definitely will be published.

Comics can be a buzzword for selling a movie, but the first thing that will happen will be the producer/agent goes to look or said comic and see what the book is like (quicker read than the script - seriously, the whole visual dynamic comes into play here, striking visuals and they have an easier time selling to a studio) and see what fans are saying. They discover there is no book and no publisher lining up the book to be published and they feel cheated and that you were trying to pull a fast one.

katatonic said:

Ok, this may seem like a silly question but if I'm adapting my comic book into a movie myself (even though the comic is just a script atm, but I plan to have it drawn up soonish) do I need to include:

Based on the comic series by blah blah

I'm not sure if i need to include it or not since they're both written by me?

Cheers

Click to expand...

It is actually very important.

A comic book falls (or at any rate *may* fall) into the same category as a novel.

That is, the underlying literary rights remain vested with *you.*

Just as if you wrote a novel and it became the basis for a movie.

In order for that to happen, somebody has to be the "movie rights" from you. But even after they've done that, you continue to own the underlying rights to the novel. You can write your own sequels. You can continue to earn money off of its publication. It's still yours.

The same is often true in respect to a graphic novel where the creator owns or at least co-owns the underlying rights.

Frank Millar has sold the *movie* rights to 300, and was paid to right the screenplay, but he still owns the underlying rights to the graphic novel.

If he'd written an original screenplay called 300 -- that wouldn't be the case. He would have sold it, a studio would have bought it, and in buying it, would, under normal circumstances, have acquired *all* rights to it, of every kind.

It's better to retains rights than to give them up.

Of course, that means that you will actually have to do more than simply have an unsold script for a graphic novel, any more than having an unsold novel from which you've derived an unsold screenplay.

You need to actually get the thing drawn and published, in some form, if only on-line.

In fact, as a means of promoting the project, developing it first as a graphic novel (providing that the material is appropriate and it's something that you are interested in doing) has proven to be a successful strategy for a number of writers.

NMS

katatonic said:

Thanks nmstevens, that's actually very interesting... you answered another question I was going to ask so cheers.

Looks like I'm definitely going to have to publish the comic online first...

What about sequels? I'm guessing it's the same procedure if they want to make a sequel? But what if/are they able to just continue with the characters and create their own story? Obviously there would be character credits, but I guess what I'm trying to ask is when they purchase the rights does that give them the rights to continue on and make more movies?

Click to expand...

If you create a comic book character, you are owner of that character. If you sell a producer the right to make a movie based on that comic book, you are selling them the right to use that character in that movie. As a rule, the contract will give them the "right of first refusal" to buy subsequent sequels if you write them (that means that they have first crack at making a deal on them, but you have to come to terms on the price) and they may also include the right to make their own sequels, but if they do, they have to pay you to use your characters -- and that won't keep you from writing your own comic book sequels.

That's because you own the characters. You control how that character will be used. If you don't want them to have the right to make independent sequels, you can say no (of course, one shouldn't exaggerate how much leverage you have at this stage -- they can say no too, and then you don't get all that money).

NMS