The short answer
A book option is the exclusive right, for a fixed period, to buy the screen rights to a book at a price agreed now. You pay an option fee for the period (often a small percentage of the purchase price), you can usually extend it for a further fee, and if you get the project made you pay the full purchase price, normally on or before the first day of principal photography.
What an option is
An option agreement does two things. It gives you an exclusive window, commonly 12 to 18 months, during which the rights holder cannot sell the screen rights to anyone else. And it fixes the terms on which you can buy those rights, so you can raise development money and attach talent knowing the price will not move.
The purchase agreement, which sets out exactly what rights you are buying, is usually negotiated at the same time and attached to the option, so that exercising the option is a formality.
Who to approach
Screen rights in a published book usually sit with the author and are handled by their literary agent or a dedicated film and TV agent. Sometimes the publisher controls them. Start with the author's agent: they can tell you whether the rights are available, already optioned, or due to come free when an existing option lapses.
For a book that is not yet published, the agent may already be fielding interest, which is when a fast, specific approach matters most.
The main terms
- Option fee. Paid for the initial period. It is often credited against the purchase price if you exercise the option.
- Option period. How long the exclusive window lasts, typically 12 to 18 months.
- Extensions. The right to extend for a further period on payment of another fee, which is usually not credited.
- Purchase price. What you pay to acquire the rights. It is often expressed as a percentage of the production budget, with a floor and a ceiling.
- Rights granted. Film, television, sequels, remakes, merchandising: be specific about what you are buying and which rights the author keeps.
- Reversion. What happens to the rights if you buy them but do not make the production within a set time.
- Credit and contingent payments. How the author is credited, and any bonuses or backend tied to production or performance.
Check the chain of title
Before you pay, confirm the person granting the option actually owns the screen rights. Ask for the publishing contract or a written confirmation of rights, check for earlier options that may not have lapsed, and confirm there are no co-authors or estates with a claim. A financier will check this chain of title before funding; it is cheaper to find a problem now.
Track the dates
Options lapse without warning. Missing an extension deadline by a day can lose you a property you have spent two years developing. Record every expiry and extension date and set reminders well ahead; in BlackSlate, Options and Deal Terms warns you before each one.
Questions
It varies enormously, from a nominal sum for a small or out-of-print book to large sums for a bestseller. Option fees are often a small percentage of the agreed purchase price.
Typically 12 to 18 months for the first period, with the right to extend for a further fee.
Usually the author, represented by their literary or film agent. Sometimes the publisher controls them under the publishing contract. Ask the author's agent first.
No. If the book is in the public domain in every territory you will exploit it, you do not need permission. Check translations, later editions and trademarks separately.
In BlackSlate
Options and Deal Terms
Every option and deal, with fees, expiries and the history of every clause.
Advance Reader
Books and other IP publishing soon, surfaced before the option market moves.
Public Domain Rights
More than 36,000 works, each showing when it enters the public domain in the US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.