Writing a life story on spec

JMJohnson

JMJohnson

I've been asked to write a man's life story on spec. There is no money in place and possibly this will never be produced so I'm wondering what kind of contract I should use.

My first thought is that I will draft an agreement where I am given his life rights to write a screenplay and treatment. Then it will state that I will hold the copyright on the material once it is written. But he will have permission to "shop" it around in order to produce it.

But here's where I'm stumped -If someone is interested in producing it I will require payment. Should I ask for a WGA contract up front in my agreement? This may hinder his sales pitch. Should I say that if a company is interested in this they will have to negotiate with me for the rights before moving forward?

Also, what kind of agreement should we have about his life rights once he's trying to sell it? Seems to me the only way he'll make any money on this is to sell his life rights, correct?

Thanks,
-Josh
 
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Interesting dilemma.

What about a contract that simply states that the proceeds from any sale or option of the script will be split 50/50 (or some other pre-determined ratio) between you and the man it's about, and that you must both agree to the transaction?

The contract implicitly gives YOU the right to write his story, and anyone purchasing the script is purchasing both the script AND the rights to his life story. Whatever he makes down the line is tied to whatever you make, and vice-versa.


-C
 
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JMJohnson said:
My first thought is that I will draft an agreement where I am given his life rights to write a screenplay and treatment. Then it will state that I will hold the copyright on the material once it is written. But he will have permission to "shop" it around in order to produce it.
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That sounds reasonable.

JMJohnson said:
But here's where I'm stumped -If someone is interested in producing it I will require payment. Should I ask for a WGA contract up front in my agreement? This may hinder his sales pitch. Should I say that if a company is interested in this they will have to negotiate with me for the rights before moving forward?
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Since you are not a member of the WGA you will not need to contact
them for a WGA agreement. However, the sales pitch should include
your fee. If a prodCo is put off because in the pitch they will have to
pay for the writer they may not be the right company to produce. So
the selling price needs to include YOUR fee as the writer. That's what
you are selling - the script. Not the rights to his life story.


JMJohnson said:
Also, what kind of agreement should we have about his life rights once he's trying to sell it? Seems to me the only way he'll make any money on this is to sell his life rights, correct?
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No. Since he is giving you the rights for free he will not make any money
selling the rights. If you two work out a deal as co-authors he will get a
percentage of the script sale.

Unless I am misunderstanding your questions. It seems like he is giving
you the rights to his life story for free. You will write a script and own the
rights to that script. What, in that case, does he own?
 
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If someone is interested in producing it I will require payment.
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As far as how much you should be paid, it all depends on the budget. If it's an indie film then expect a bag of peanuts; If it's got the backing of a major TV network or studio then it's worth much more. At that time I'd just negotiate something fair.

I'd also want to be "bought out" if they ever wanted to start from square one with a different writer. Unless you have something in writing I don't think you have any leverage over his life story rights. He owns his own life story unless there's something that says otherwise. So be careful of that.
 
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