Securing Rights: From Script to Screen

• Pages: 12-14

AUGUST 2011

12

This task falls to the lm producer. The types of

agreements that need to be signed to secure po-

tential nancing, overseas partners and distribu-

tors are extensive and often complex.

So, what’s involved?

Option agreements: Purchasing an option

to acquire lm and television rights in a literary

work (novel, play or original script) is often the

starting point in developing a lm or television

project. This involves establishing an

option agree-

ment

, which states that the owner of the underlying

work – a script, book, article or short story – agrees

to grant to the producer, for a specied period, the

right to produce a lm. If the lm is made (and the

option is exercised) then the copyright owner is

paid an agreed fee for the ongoing right to use the

work in the lm. Option agreements are scrutinized

many times during the life of a lm project.

Director agreements: Producers also need to

establish agreements with their lm directors.

Director agreements

address a range of issues and,

depending on the jurisdiction concerned, the

director can be identied as an author and joint

owner of a lm with corresponding rights, as an

employee, or as both. If engaged as an employee,

the director is paid a salary by the producer dur-

ing pre-production (development), principal pho-

tography (lming) and post-production (editing).

In practice, in addition to this salary, directors

also often receive royalties from lm distribution.

The obligation to respect a director’s work is

often included in these agreements. A true “nal

cut” provision – granting the director the right

to decide on the nal version of a lm shown

A lm involves a collection of copyrights that re-

late to dierent elements of production, a screen-

play (based on a book, for example), music, di-

recting talent and actors’ performances. Each of

these rights needs to be properly transferred,

assigned, and documented for the producer to

be able to claim ownership of the lm and license

distribution rights.

Before engaging in negotiations with a lm dis-

tributor, be it a major studio, television network

or cinema distributor, lm producers must en-

sure that all chain of title protocols are strictly

respected and that clear ownership of rights in a

lm has been secured.

Distributors need to be condent they are licens-

ing rights from the undisputed copyright holder.

Securing all of the rights associated with the dif-

ferent parties involved in making a lm is key to

the successful completion, sale and exploitation

of a lm.

Securing chain of title

documentation

Chain of title documentation that identies right

holders and conrms that all relevant rights

agreements have been concluded is the linchpin

of distribution deals. Without such documentary

evidence no eective transfer, assignment or li-

censing of rights can occur. While variations in

relation to what can or cannot be assigned are

determined by national law, the need to demon-

strate clear ownership of a protected work is an

overriding characteristic of all transactions in the

global lm industry.

SECURING RIGHTS:

From Script to Screen

1

1. This article draws on

a forthcoming WIPO

publication on lm

distribution entitled,

From Script to Screen:

The Importance of

Rights Documentation

in the Distribution

of Films

This year’s Sundance Film Festival, the premiere independent film event, witnessed a resurgence of interest

in the indie sector. The return of distributors and a renewed readiness to part with their cash is bringing

a fresh breath of optimism to the industry. Of the 118 films selected for screening at the Festival, around

100 entered the event without a distribution deal. By the end of the festival, approximately 70 entries had

been picked up by a distributor, doubling 2009 sales figures. With the high-end price tag of approximately

US$7 million for a feature-length film this is promising news for all filmmakers.



The2011SundanceFilmFestivalfeatured118feature‐lengthfilmsfrom29countriesand40first‐

timefilmmakers,including25incompetition.Thesefilmswereselectedfrom3,812feature‐length

filmsubmissionsofwhich1,943weremadeintheUnitedStatesand1,869weremade

internationally.Ninety‐fiveofthefilmsreleasedattheFestivalwereworldpremieres.



Source:SundanceFilmFestival2011

http://www.sundance.org/festival/article/2011‐competition‐film‐announcement