When your literary work or original concept is adapted into high-stakes streaming series or major studio films, specialized legal expertise is essential to manage this critical transition. American Author Board provides comprehensive support throughout every phase of film and media rights protection, handling the administrative complexities and ensuring your intellectual property remains fully secured from initial negotiations through final contract execution.
As your dedicated legal representative, we manage the entire process of transitioning from creator to intellectual property owner and licensor. This includes establishing clear legal ownership of the source material, negotiating option agreements, and securing licensing arrangements that maximize your financial and creative interests. By handling all necessary legal documentation and protections, we eliminate administrative burdens and position you to effectively control and profit from the adaptation of your work.
Script and Adaptation Security
As soon as a book, screenplay, or any conceptual work is finalized, a distinct legal registration is required for its protection. We handle the dual filing necessary to secure your script or core property, ensuring you meet the industry’s strict proof-of-authorship standards without lifting a finger.
WGA Script Registration
A compulsory industry standard for screenwriters and content developers is WGA registration. In the complete filing process, we officially log your screenplay or adaptation script for WGA script registration. It serves as an indisputable proof of authorship for five years. When you register script with WGA, all major studios, agents, and streaming networks universally accept it. WGA registration provides timestamped evidence accepted by the guilds and development executives, demonstrating the evolution and originality of your script from its earliest drafts. This is a fundamental preemptive protection step before any script submission.
Library of Congress Script Copyright
Copyright for screenplays or the adapted work with the Library of Congress is necessary to fully protect film script legally. This process registers the specific script, dialogue, and execution separately from the original source material. We handle all the paperwork for your Library of Congress script registration, establishing clear legal ownership for the purpose of production and ensuring your script is protected. This federal registration is your most powerful tool for litigation and securing injunctions, establishing a clean, federally recognized title for adaptation.
Licensing & Contract Negotiation
Once the story and script are secured, the focus shifts entirely to defining the legal and financial terms under which producers use your IP. Our experienced legal team takes the lead, drafting, reviewing, and negotiating these complex, high-value contracts to safeguard your financial and creative future. We focus on shifting financial and legal risk away from the creator and onto the production entity.
Option & Licensing Agreements
These are the foundational contracts necessary when you sell film rights to book or other media. An option agreement for book grants a producer exclusive, time-limited development rights for an initial fee, allowing them to shop the project. A licensing agreements for authors (or purchase agreement) defines the total sale price, your crucial ongoing royalty streams (including ancillary revenue definitions), retained creative control (like consultation rights, or restrictions on major character changes), and contract duration. We eliminate the negotiation anxiety by providing the expertise for drafting and negotiating strong book-to-film contract help, aggressively focusing on maximizing your income, including robust audit rights on royalty statements, and protecting your creative integrity against studio pressure.
Film/TV Production Contracts
A comprehensive Film/TV Series Production Contract is mandatory for a co-producer or financier involved in the production to protect your status and guarantee your financial stake. This is where true value retention occurs. Our team handles your business while you create by meticulously managing your agreements, clearly defining revenue splits from backend profits, negotiating the scope of the “Produced By” credit, and critically securing IP retention clauses (ensuring you keep the core rights for future works not covered by the current deal). We also manage the complex definitions of sequels, prequels, and spin-offs, establishing terms for future adaptations via sequel clauses.