TV/film adaptations

Be very careful. If you work with her on the screenplay it means that she then has some rights to that screenplay and therefore the rights to your book are diluted: if it all goes wrong between you, you won't be able to option or sell rights anywhere else, and she might well claim a share of any resulting monies if you do.

Do not go any further without very thorough legal advice.

robertbevan said:

I'm putting this in the Self-Publishing forum because I am, at least for now, looking at this from the point of view or an unagented self-publisher. I figured this would be more beneficial to self-publishers because those of you with agents who are trade published would probably be getting advice from said publishers and agents. If the mods feel it would be better suited in a different forum, feel free to move it.

Last week I received an email. I won't go into specific details, but someone in Hollywood read my book, Critical Failures, and is interested in trying to adapt it for the screen. This person works for a production company, but said that she didn't feel my work was right for that company, so what she would like to do is work together with me on a screenplay (either for TV or film... we're going to talk more after that after she reads the rest of my work), and then she would shop it around to her various contacts in Hollywood, hopefully pick up some interest from someone higher up the food chain than she is, and sell it, with her getting an Executive Producer credit and me getting a Writer/Creator credit.

After she reads the rest of my work, she wants to start talking about the proposed project in more detail over the phone.

When that time comes, I would like to be prepared. I'm kind of flabbergasted right now, and I know so little about the TV/film industry that I don't even know what sorts of questions I should be asking.

I'm super thrilled that someone in "the business" is interested in my work. I feel like, even if this amounts to nothing, it might be only the first of a number of opportunities in the future.

So that's it. I started this thread to ask you, the fine people of absolutewrite.com, what sorts of questions I should be asking and how I should be preparing for my first phone conversation with this person. (Also, she invited me to ask whatever I want via email as well.)

Thank you.

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Does she, or do you, have any experience writing screenplays? It's a specific skill. Does she have any experience pitching or selling screenplays? In what area of the co. does she work?

I'd be wary, based on what you write here. Mostly, to my knowledge, if a production company is interested in adapting a work, it'd prefer to buy the rights and have it written by someone of their choosing.

Most writers without screenwriting experience or credits don't have anything much to do with film or tv made from their work beyond picking up the check or a negotiated consulting type role.

I have no more personal experience than you so this is just what I've picked up along the way from reading about Hollywood secondhand.

A producer should option your work first. You should be payed for this option. If you aren't, say "no thank you." If you are, it's entertainment attorney time to make sure your interests are protected.

Writing a screenplay first sounds odd. Generally, since the book exists the book is shopped around. A screenplay would generally be written if there's actual interest from a production company and the screenwriter gets paid for doing so.

I fear this further conversation is going to be that you write a script "on spec" (ie without pay) and that you share your rights with this person for little or no immediate compensation because of her position in the industry. Alarm bells should ring in such cases.

Cornflake makes excellent points.

ETA: So does Mr Tanner. My alarm bells are ringing, I'm afraid.

Oh, also, sorry, forgot but the 'either for TV or film' doesn't seem a good sign to me either. Those are entirely different things. I'd clarify what, precisely, she means. Does she mean a TV movie? Broadcast? Cable? Premium cable? These all have different standards, gatekeepers, etc. Does she mean a series? That's a whole other ball of wax.

The scripts for all of these things - feature film, network tv movie, cable movie, premium cable, series - would be very different. Especially if you're talking about film vs. series, it's different characters, plots, beats, arcs, etc.

What is this person's position at present? How large is her current firm? Does she have the experience necessary to write and pitch your project, or is she a junior production assistant looking for a quick entree into another line of work and using you to get her there?

I would think this would be a good time to see if you can find an agent to represent you. Negotiating these sorts of rights needs specific experience and knowledge.

Put yourself in the other person's shoes. If you got involved in someone else's project and put a lot of hours and talent into it and came up with a screenplay (or whatever) that you thought was valuable, and the original author decided to walk away, would you think they had a perfect right to do that? If the original author subsequently worked with someone else on a screenplay and you saw ideas in it that you thought originated with you, would you not think you had a right to compensation?

Get an agent and/or a lawyer. And instead of thinking of not having a contract as a way to protect yourself, think of it as a way you're leaving yourself open to someone else's interpretation of what your agreement was. If your screenwriting friend will sign a contract saying she has no right to your characters or story, that's better protection than not having a contract at all. IMO. Get an agent or lawyer.

robertbevan said:

Thank you, everyone for your fast and informative responses.



Being careful is why I started this thread.

Of course I want to protect myself and my work, but I also don't want to miss out on a potential opportunity. I thought I would be in the clear so long as no money changes hands and no contracts are signed. 'What harm could it do to bash out a script and see if she can get the right people interested?'

So you're saying that if we work together on a screenplay, then I've given up some part of my rights to the books? And my characters? For all eternity? If this is true, then what's to keep any beta readers I worked with from claiming partial ownership of the books? (I'm not challenging you or trying to be a smartass. I literally know nothing about this and I'm trying to educate myself.)

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You're actually far worse off if there aren't any contracts signed and you worked together on a screenplay. She can claim it's hers and what proof do you have it isn't? She can take it and shop it under her name as an adaptation and claim you verbally granted her rights - she's got emails back and forth to show you worked on it with her to bolster her claim. Hard to prove a negative and even if you'd win, expensive.

Beta readers don't work with you to create a work from scratch. They read an already-formed work and suggest changes. These are wildly different things.

That's like asking why, if your wife can take half your stuff in a divorce, can't the cleaning lady, or something.

Again, I was coming at this from a "What harm could it do to let her give it a shot?" point of view. Am I mistaken in this?

Yes, of course. Part of what she wants to talk about is whether we think the books would best be adapted for a movie or for a television series.

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This is a huge, huge red flag to me. Television series for WHAT? Does she have any connections or experience in that realm? How the hell would that be pitched? Also, most people pitching tv have not only a pilot (which this would be), but specs. Otherwise, what're you doing, you know? In this case, what're you doing would be my main question if I heard someone with no screenwriting experience and no experience in or knowledge of television was somehow thinking of pitching a series. I mean is she suggesting she'd be the showrunner? You would? Again, for what? What format? There are just so many questions arising out of that, as it is SO different from the idea of pitching a film script, that it'd give me pause right away.

Also, the harm could be many things. She shows an amateurish script to people who then aren't interested, when they might have been if she was simply pitching the book.

Ask yourself why she wants to do it this way, instead of the more traditional, more likely way.

That's one thing I've already made clear with her from the very beginning. Before I sign anything or any money trades hands, I plan to have an agent (or at least a lawyer if I can't find an agent to represent me). My biggest fear is accidentally signing away the rights to my work for all eternity because I didn't understand some clause in a contract.

I mentioned it up there in my response to Old Hack, but I'd like to ask one more time...

Without money trading hands or contracts being signed, are my work and myself still not safe?

Thank you again, everyone.

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See above.

As others have said, you're far worse off without a contract than with one (so long as that contract is a good one, of course). A contract will spell out who is responsible for what, who owns what, and who gets paid for what. No contract? What happens if she finds a deal which you don't like, but she signs up to it anyway? What happens if she likes the screenplay which results from your endeavours but you really don't like it? What happens if she changes something significant about your book without telling you?

If the two of you work together on a screenplay then she shares the copyright on that screenplay with you; she'll have equal say in what happens to the resulting work; and you'll have a screenplay to sell, which means your book will no longer be the focus of a deal.

If the resulting screenplay is poor, it will kill any chance you have of selling film rights to your book. If it's good and it does sell, then you'll have to share the glory with your co-writer (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but still).

The thing about Hollywood is that it looks like 99% of stuff goes nowhere. And then of the 1% that goes somewhere, 99% of that ends up stillborn too. This seems to be the reason that everyone who works in Hollywood seems to give the same advice about pre-production interest from producers--you get paid or you don't do it.

As others have said, I'd be really leery about getting involved in "working together" on a screenplay, particularly without a contract, and potentially even with one. Even if this went nowhere this time, if something better happened in the future, there's a huge potential for a claim from this person. Just look at how often movies are sued and settle for far more tenuous claims than a true case of someone who legitimately did some development on a project. What happens if you're "working together" without something in writing and suddenly a real offer comes along from somewhere else that has no interest in being involved with this person?

Anyway, I hate to live in fear, but Hollywood seems to be one of those places where you really have to exercise an annoying level of CYA.

If the producer had an understandable reason for needing a screenplay to shop rather than the book, and you have no qualms about doing that, I could sort of see taking a leap. But it should come with the producer paying for an option (that's her good faith) and you writing the screenplay on your own on spec (that's your beyond good faith) and retaining all rights to it, which I believe would be specified in the option agreement (but that's lawyer territory which an option payment will allow you to afford.)

I do work in Hollywood, and I want to second everything everyone's said in this thread. From the perspective of someone immersed in this every day, all the advice you're getting is all very, very correct.

A ridiculous number of people in Hollywood will blow smoke up your ass about their qualifications or connections or that "the project is going to go, of course it is!" I never consider a project a sure thing until I'm working on it. And if it's not a union job (some things I do fall under a union and some don't), I get paid before I start working.

Also, I'm seconding what everyone's saying about the specialized skill of screenplay writing and also the specialized skill of pitching scripts. I'm good friends with people who have successfully produced and directed independent films and TV movies. I would not for a SECOND think I could make the kind of offer she's making, and it rings all kinds of alarm bells. To my knowledge, if she does have the connections and experience to make this happen, she should be talking to you about optioning. The fact that she's talking to you about a spec script makes me suspect that she doesn't but is telling you she does, and I'm right back to NO STOP BAD IDEA.

I recommend you IMDB this person and her company straight off. IMDB may exist for lay people, but believe it or not it is also THE go-to place for people in the industry. She'll be invested in getting her own credits up there -- it's pretty much unheard of (and stupid, business-wise) for someone not to care about their credits hitting IMDB whenever the projects qualify, and it's really freakin' easy for projects to qualify, so especially if she's a producer at her company, she should have a list of credits. Look up her and her company's credits, and do a little legwork on them. See if her claims are matching the reality.

And yes, I agree with everyone else that working together with her on a script could blow up in your face. An adaptation is a lot of work. If you're interested in pursuing this on spec, then I'd recommend you educate yourself on how to write a screenplay and then write it yourself, unless you are approached by an actual screenwriter who has a LOT of experience writing and selling scripts on spec -- not someone who "might have connections."

If she options your book, she can walk with it and cut you out completely. That's what an option is: the rights to the book. Now, she might be nice and let you take a crack at writing the screenplay, but she wouldn't have to, and after you write it, even if she got nibbles from someone else, THAT entity might not want your screenplay.

Of course, that could happen even if you work together without her getting the option first. If a larger company wants the rights to the book, they'll option the book. If there's a screenplay, they might consider it, but they just as likely won't. You're an unproven screenplay writer. Being the author of the original material means nothing to them.

robertbevan said:

Thank you so much, everyone! You've saved me a lot of stuttering and stammering over questions that I don't know how to properly ask. I'll let this thread go on a bit longer, and then I'll email her a link to it.

Now I'd like to ask about an alternative scenario which she'd mentioned in our first round of emails, and which was mentioned here.

When I asked her whether I should be looking for an agent, she said that it was completely up to me, and that (as someone with a vested interest) she wasn't in an ideal position to advise me on that. She told me that an agent who shopped my book around might be able to get me something between $3,000 and $5,000 to option my book. She added that she didn't have that kind of money to option it herself, as she's still "small time".

She did seem to suggest that she might be willing to pay a smaller amount of money to option my book.

So what about this....

She pays me a small amount of money. (I'd still need to get an agent, and that'd be tricky. Is it easier to pick up an agent when there's money on the table? Even if it's a relatively small amount of money?)

I hack out a complete first draft of a screenplay for the sole purpose of establishing ownership of it. We then work together to revise it, but the rights are still safe with me.

Just spitballing here. Learning as I go.

There seems to be some concern in this thread that this person is just using me as a stepping stone to further her own career. I wanted to make it clear that I'm absolutely fine with that. And really, I'm using her for exactly the same thing. If she's the real deal, and has a skill set which can get my work in front of people who can make things happen, then I'm cool with cutting her in on some of the action.

But again, I don't want to be stupid about it. So keep the advice coming.

Thank you for your advice and for not being too condescending with me.

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There are a couple of things in here I don't think you understand, that you should, if you're even thinking about this.

First - if you allow her to option the book, she then owns the right to do with it what she will in this realm, for the length of the option. That's what an option is - buying the OPTION to make a film or not, as you see fit.

She can then allow you to write a screenplay - while she shops the thing around behind your back, has eight other people write screenplays, makes a secondary deal behind your back, whatever. Her, wait for it, option.

Second, you mention looking for an agent and I'm not sure what you're suggesting you'd look for one to represent. This book is already self-published, no? That'd make finding a literary agent potentially quite hard, unless it's a fairly massive seller.

You have no screenplay or experience writing them or samples or specs or pilots, thus an agent for that seems like it'd be a complete dead end.

Third, the bolded would make me run for the fucking hills, frankly. Yes, studios and other people option tons of stuff, some for a few grand. Some, however, is for considerably more. Like, a LOT more. This is like her suggesting the advance you'd get for your book, had you not published it already and were seeking trade publishing, would be 3-5k. That's a possible number. It's also possible, though yes, less likely, that it'd end up at auction and get 10-100x that. One person, unless that person is in the business of buying and selling this stuff, explicitly, has no idea what something will sell for. Saying she'd pay you maybe less sounds like an antique dealer talking to someone brings in a Chippendale chair but has no idea what it is. The dealer might say it's old but probably nothing much and they'll give the person $100, because the person brought the chair all the way there and the dealer feels bad for all the trouble. It's shifty as fuck, dude.

Having been through the Hollywood grinder myself, I can tell you that not only are you not being approached by a dealmaker, this person can't even option your property.

She's either stupid, or thinks you are.

Move on.

I had a somewhat similar experience in that Hollywood came knocking after one of my indie books reached number one in teen romance on Amazon. Difference is she's an agent with a major, well-known agency and was inquiring on behalf of her client. I wasn't agented at the time, but when I finished my WIP, I included that info in my submissions. Once I signed with an agent, I pointed her toward the chick who inquired. We are still "in talks" with them. Who knows if anything will come of it. It's cool that someone liked it enough to ask about those rights. But I know most deals never amount to anything.

DIFFERENCE is I'm not going to write the screenplay/television scripts. If they option or buy the rights, I won't be involved anymore. I have studied screenplay writing, and it is a completely different ball of wax as others have said...one that I'd rather not bother with since that was many moons ago.

If you don't have a literary agent, you can seek representation from an agency that specializes in these types of deals. Many literary agencies outsource the film/television rights anyway and split their commission with those film/television agents who specialize in them.