The words development runs on
37 terms from rights, development and the page, defined in plain English.
- Adaptation rightsRights
- Permission from the rights holder to turn a work, such as a novel or play, into a film or series. Usually acquired through an option.
- Anniversary programmingDevelopment
- Timing a film or series to land on the anniversary of the event, person or work it is about, when audiences and press are already paying attention.
- Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC)Production
- The UK's tax credit for film and high-end television production, which replaced the earlier creative industry tax reliefs from 2024. Rates and rules change, so check the current HMRC guidance.
- Beat sheetWriting
- A list of the key story moments in order, used to test a structure before writing scenes.
- Chain of titleRights
- The documents that prove who owns the rights in a project, link by link from the original work to the producer. Financiers and insurers ask to see it.
- ClearanceRights
- Checking that names, brands, real people, places, music and footage in a script can be used without legal risk, and securing permission where needed.
- CommissionerCommissioning
- The person at a broadcaster or streamer who decides which programmes are made, usually for one genre or channel.
- Copyright renewalRights
- For US works published from 1928 to 1963, a second registration that had to be filed in the 28th year to keep copyright for its full term. Many were never renewed.
- Copyright restorationRights
- The 1996 US law (from the Uruguay Round Agreements Act) that restored copyright in many foreign works that had lost it for failing US formalities such as renewal.
- Copyright termRights
- How long copyright lasts. In the UK and EU, usually the author's life plus 70 years; in the US, it depends on when the work was published.
- Derivative workRights
- A new work based on an existing one, such as a translation, sequel or adaptation. Copyright in the new material belongs to its maker, but using the original still needs permission unless it is in the public domain.
- DevelopmentDevelopment
- The stage before production: finding material, securing rights, writing and rewriting, and raising interest until a project is commissioned or financed.
- Development executiveDevelopment
- The person at a production company who finds projects, works with writers on drafts, and moves projects towards commission.
- Development slateDevelopment
- All the projects a company is developing at once, each at its own stage.
- DraftWriting
- A complete version of a script. Drafts are numbered or dated so everyone knows which one they are reading.
- Dual dialogueWriting
- Two characters speaking at the same time, set side by side on the page.
- Errors and omissions insuranceProduction
- Insurance against claims that a production infringed copyright, trademark, privacy or defamation law. Usually required before distribution, and it depends on a clean chain of title.
- Life plus 70Rights
- The rule that copyright lasts for the author's lifetime and 70 years after the end of the year they died. Used in the UK, EU, Australia, Canada and, for newer works, the US.
- Life rightsRights
- The agreement with a real person to dramatise their story, giving access, cooperation and a promise not to sue. Not always legally required, but often commercially needed.
- Locked pagesWriting
- Pages whose numbering is frozen during production, so revisions add pages such as 12A rather than renumbering the script.
- LoglineWriting
- One or two sentences that say who the story is about, what they want and what stands in their way.
- OptionRights
- An exclusive right, for a set period and fee, to buy the screen rights in a work later. If the purchase price is not paid before the option ends, the rights stay with the owner.
- Orphan workRights
- A work still in copyright whose owner cannot be found. The UK has a licensing scheme for some uses.
- Pitch deckDevelopment
- A short visual presentation used to sell a project: the logline, tone, characters, world and why now.
- PrecinctDevelopment
- A workplace with a constant flow of new people and problems, such as a hospital, station or court, that can generate stories week after week.
- Public domainRights
- Works no longer protected by copyright, which anyone can adapt without permission or payment. A work can be public domain in one country and protected in another.
- Public Domain DayRights
- The first of January, when each year's set of works comes out of copyright.
- Purchase priceRights
- The amount paid to buy the rights when an option is exercised, usually agreed when the option is signed.
- Revision coloursWriting
- The coloured paper, or colour code, used for each round of script changes in production, commonly white, then blue, pink, yellow, green and goldenrod.
- Rule of the shorter termRights
- The rule in the EU and many other countries that a foreign work is protected no longer than in its home country. The US does not apply it.
- Scene headingWriting
- The line that opens a scene, saying inside or outside, where, and when: INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT. Also called a slugline.
- Series bibleDevelopment
- The document that sets out a series: its world, characters, tone and where future episodes and seasons could go.
- ShowrunnerProduction
- The lead writer and producer with creative control of a series.
- Spec scriptWriting
- A script written without being commissioned, to sell or to show a writer's ability.
- TreatmentWriting
- A prose account of the story, in the present tense, from a few pages to a few dozen.
- TurnaroundDevelopment
- When a company stops developing a project and lets the producer take it elsewhere, usually on repayment of its costs.
- Works made for hireRights
- In US law, work created by an employee in their job, or certain commissioned work, where the employer is the author. Its copyright runs 95 years from publication rather than the creator's life plus 70.
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Find the next project before anyone else does
Producers and development teams start here. Writers come in through the producer who has them on a slate.