THE OPTION AGREEMENT
If you are really going to make a go of this career you will likely already be somewhat of a self-starter. You won't be hanging around waiting for producers to come to you to write the music for their next big show. And if you are, you really shouldn't be. There are a lot of talented people out there working extremely hard to get their music into those producers ears and they are doing it by writing shows and getting them put on themselves.
We are all looking for the perfect story to turn our hand to. In particular in the world of musical theatre, material from other mediums such as books, films and short stories lend themselves very well to adaptation for the musical stage. So... what happens if you've come across a story, a film or a book that you desperately want to turn into a musical? You haven't got a producer involved yet, its very early days, what do you do?
This is where The OPTION AGREEMENT comes into play. An option agreement is an agreement between you (the adaptor) and the underlying rights holder (usually the author of the original story) detailing the terms under which you are allowed to adapt their work into a show. An option agreement usually gives you exlcusive rights to a period of initial development (usually two years) with a further option to extend those rights to further development if required.
You may have to pay the author a fee in order to develop their work, this can be a nominal fee if the work is relatively unknown, or for more famous works it can be alot larger. One of our recent projects was optioned for £500 for a period of two years development (that was for a relatively unknown short story). This fee will be agreed upon between yourselves and the author. We highly recommend meeting the author underlying rights holder in person to discuss the option agreement to make sure there are no misunderstandings.
One extremely important part of an option agreement that you should always push for is creative control over the work that you are creating. That is to say, you are taking the authors initial work and adapting it for the stage and they have no rights in the way in which you present that material. This is a really important part of this agreement. Many promising theatrical projects have been ruined when creative rights have not been obtained. Remember, you are the one who knows what will work in a theatrical environment. Chances are the underlying rights holder will have little knowledge of the theatre. You have to get them to trust you with their work, this is no mean feat. Hence all the more reason to cultivate a trusting relationship with them. Of course you should always stay true to the spirit of their intention (that's probably what drew you to their work in the first place) but the way in which you stay true to that intention should remain up to you as the adaptor.
Also (and this is REALLY IMPORTANT) once you do get a producer involved in your project. Make sure that the OPTION AGREEMENT is in YOUR name. Not the name of your producers. As if they own the option they effectively own the right to kick you off your own brilliant idea. So make sure that the option is owned only by you and your collaborators. This is so important. Can't stress that enough!
We are all looking for the perfect story to turn our hand to. In particular in the world of musical theatre, material from other mediums such as books, films and short stories lend themselves very well to adaptation for the musical stage. So... what happens if you've come across a story, a film or a book that you desperately want to turn into a musical? You haven't got a producer involved yet, its very early days, what do you do?
This is where The OPTION AGREEMENT comes into play. An option agreement is an agreement between you (the adaptor) and the underlying rights holder (usually the author of the original story) detailing the terms under which you are allowed to adapt their work into a show. An option agreement usually gives you exlcusive rights to a period of initial development (usually two years) with a further option to extend those rights to further development if required.
You may have to pay the author a fee in order to develop their work, this can be a nominal fee if the work is relatively unknown, or for more famous works it can be alot larger. One of our recent projects was optioned for £500 for a period of two years development (that was for a relatively unknown short story). This fee will be agreed upon between yourselves and the author. We highly recommend meeting the author underlying rights holder in person to discuss the option agreement to make sure there are no misunderstandings.
One extremely important part of an option agreement that you should always push for is creative control over the work that you are creating. That is to say, you are taking the authors initial work and adapting it for the stage and they have no rights in the way in which you present that material. This is a really important part of this agreement. Many promising theatrical projects have been ruined when creative rights have not been obtained. Remember, you are the one who knows what will work in a theatrical environment. Chances are the underlying rights holder will have little knowledge of the theatre. You have to get them to trust you with their work, this is no mean feat. Hence all the more reason to cultivate a trusting relationship with them. Of course you should always stay true to the spirit of their intention (that's probably what drew you to their work in the first place) but the way in which you stay true to that intention should remain up to you as the adaptor.
Also (and this is REALLY IMPORTANT) once you do get a producer involved in your project. Make sure that the OPTION AGREEMENT is in YOUR name. Not the name of your producers. As if they own the option they effectively own the right to kick you off your own brilliant idea. So make sure that the option is owned only by you and your collaborators. This is so important. Can't stress that enough!
