Separated rights

In practice

Copyright is a bundle of rights. When a signatory company buys or commissions an original script, it acquires that copyright, but the MBA separates certain rights out for the writer. For a theatrical film, publication rights and dramatic stage rights are licensed back to the writer; for television, the writer's reserved rights include stage, theatrical, publication, merchandising, radio, live-television, and interactive rights, among others.

Entitlement is not a clause to negotiate into a deal. The MBA sets qualification rules and the WGA makes the final determination. In general the material must be original — not based on previously published or produced source material — and the writer must receive a qualifying credit: Story by, Written by, or Screen Story by on a feature; Story by or Written by, and in certain circumstances Television Story by, on a television movie; Created by on an episodic series.

Separated rights are why an original screenwriter may hold the stage or publication rights to their own story. They also interact with the WGA's AI rules: qualifying company-furnished AI material cannot be used to disqualify a writer from separated rights. Questions about a specific project go to the WGA's contracts department.

Five years later

Buying back an unproduced original, often called turnaround, is one of the rights the MBA keeps for the writer. The real windows and amounts come from the contract's date and the WGA, not from a scene.

What the writer keeps

On a theatrical film, the writer with separated rights holds the publication rights and the dramatic stage rights. They are also owed sequel payments of at least WGA minimum if the company makes a theatrical sequel, a television movie sequel or a series based on the film, and a "Based on Characters Created by" credit on theatrical sequels.

The writer also gets a first chance at the work. A company that buys or options an original screenplay must offer its writer the first rewrite at minimum or more, and that right lasts three years after the writer's services. Before the company replaces a writer who holds separated rights, the writer is entitled to a meeting with a senior production executive who has read the material.

On television, the reserved rights cover dramatic stage, theatrical, publication, merchandising, radio, live television and interactive uses. If the material becomes a series, the writer receives a sequel payment for each episode produced, with residuals on those payments. Reserved rights the company has not exploited within four years of delivery or three years of exhibition generally revert to the writer, subject to the company's limited right of first negotiation.

How a writer qualifies

On a feature, qualification happens in two steps. Initial qualification comes from writing an original story, or an original story and screenplay, under employment or selling it to the company as a professional writer. Final qualification comes from receiving a Story by, Written by or Screen Story by credit, which the WGA determines when the film's credits are settled.

That second step is why separated rights and credit arbitration are linked. A writer can start a project as the sole author of an original script and still not hold separated rights at the end if the final credit goes elsewhere. On television, the qualifying credits are Story by or Written by on a movie, and Created by on a series.

Material based on something previously published or produced does not qualify, because it is not original. An adaptation of a novel or a remake carries no separated rights in that source. Keeping dated drafts helps show what you wrote and when; Plot records each named save point with its date, which is a working record, not a legal determination.

Getting an unproduced script back

If a theatrical original has not been produced within five years, the writer can buy it back, as long as it is not then in active development, for example with a writer or pay-or-play talent employed on it. For agreements dated on or after May 2, 2001, the writer then has five years in which to give the company notice, and once notice is given the buy-back must be completed within two years. A writer whose services ended in August 2002, for example, could give notice as early as August 2007 or as late as August 2012. Older agreements use a single two-year window that opens five years after the writer's services end or the company acquired the material, whichever is later.

Reacquiring is a purchase, not a gift. The writer generally repays what the company originally paid for the material and the writing services, and the new buyer must agree to pay the rest of the direct literary costs, plus interest, at the start of principal photography. On television, the writer can buy back the company's rights by repaying what it paid, with the new company covering other literary costs from its first revenue after production costs.