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Author and Licensee Content Rights in Agreements for TV Productions
These are heady times for creators of books and stories that may be suitable for television production. In addition to the traditional broadcast networks (NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox), a legion of pay and basic cable exhibitors and, more recently, direct-to-consumer streaming outlets such as Netflix, Amazon, Apple and Hulu, are voraciously licensing product from those creators. (Although the licensee of the content may be a production company or the ultimate exhibitor, for the purposes of the article we will refer to the licensee as “the exhibitor”).
Much press is given to the compensation aspects of the creators' agreements with exhibitors, but attention also should be paid to the extent and duration of the exhibitor's exclusivity in the property in which rights are being acquired, including holdback provisions, reversion of rights, and the right to produce derivative spinoffs, sequels and other derivative works.
Broadcast networks traditionally ordered a pilot and if it was well-received, then a limited number of episodes for the first season and the option to order more in subsequent seasons. But now, streaming services (and even some cable exhibitors and broadcast networks) have ordered one or more entire seasons of episodes at a time. This has allowed more creativity in how the adaptations are treated, and sought-after writers who at one time would only be willing to write for theatrical motion pictures are vying for prestigious television writing engagements. As a result, the quality of television programming has been enhanced.
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