Film/TV rights only

csmalerich

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Is it possible to query agents on a title that is already sold and about to be published, just to have them rep the film/tv rights? If so, how do I find one and how do I frame my query?

Currently I don't have a literary agent. I have a novella coming out in November with one of the Big Five. For that I handled the contract part myself with advice from the National Writers Union, and I feel fairly comfortable with literary contracts. My WIP is a novel in the same genre as the novella, and I do plan to look for an agent to rep it in the future, but it's nowhere close to querying time.

Meanwhile, the film/tv rights for the novella remain with me, and I have received an inquiry about them that appears to be legit. It'd be nice to do something with those, but I'm out of my depth.

Another option is negotiating for myself, hiring legal advisors as necessary. Or just hanging onto the film/tv rights until some point in the future when I've got another completed work and a literary agent.

Any advice or experience is greatly appreciated!
 

paqart

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A TV series was made based on a property I co-developed with a friend. Our publisher did the negotiations. They looked out for their interests, not ours. They got a credit on the series, we didn't. The money they negotiated for was laughable. At the time, my day job paid more every week than I got from the TV studio for each filmed episode of the series, Harsh Realm. My partner and I sued, won, got our credit, and then the studio killed the series after nine episodes. It wasn't such a great series anyway but it bothered me that at the time, it had the highest budget of any new series, yet my checks were less than the day rate for a half-decent makeup artist. All told, even after winning the lawsuit, I may have come out of the experience with maybe a couple thousand more than I spent, which makes it a big loss relative to the time invested.

I would have much preferred to hang onto the property than to have sold it to Fox and producer Chris Carter because of the way they handled it. Based on that experience, I would never again allow a publisher to negotiate on my behalf unless I had ironclad deal approval before anything could go forward.
 
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PeteMC

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To sell film/tv rights you ideally want a screen rights agent rather than a literary agent, who would usually partner with a film rights agent anyway for this bit. I have one of each, but aquired the film agent via the lit agent so I don't know what the actual process of querying is like. Think agencies like United Talent, etc. Whatever you do, don't try and negotiate a screen option without an agent. You will get eaten alive without even knowing it until it's FAR too late.
 

LaneHeymont

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Query agents about the film/TV rights. They'll have film connects. Be very selective. Entertainment lawyers usually don't work on a case-by-case basis (they usually take 2-5% annual income), but you can probably hire an independent lawyer. WGA may also help. Feel free to PM if you have questions and I can point you in the right direction.