Rewriting Someone Else's Script - Work For Hire Agreement?

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  • Rewriting Someone Else's Script - Work For Hire Agreement?

    Hi,

    My partner and I have been asked by a distributor / investor to rewrite a script that they own the rights to. It's not our original work, but we're doing a total page 1 overhaul. We'd like to get a contract in place, but I can't find a template or sample for such a thing. It would be a work for hire agreement, right? The ones I find online assume I am the original writer. Do I just take one of those and write it to fit our situation? Does the original writer need to sign something? If not, how to go about mentioning him in the contract?

    Non-union and not getting paid for the writing, but may make some off the finished film as we're producing/directing as well.

    Any help would be appreciated. Is this even our job or should the hire-er be doing this stuff?

  • #2
    Re: Rewriting Someone Else's Script - Work For Hire Agreement?

    PM Sent.

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    • #3
      Re: Rewriting Someone Else's Script - Work For Hire Agreement?

      Do you have a lawyer? I would seriously consider getting one, especially if you want terms for if the film gets made and all that. Is there a contract in place for you directing and all that?
      Quack.

      Writer on a cable drama.

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      • #4
        Re: Rewriting Someone Else's Script - Work For Hire Agreement?

        Tricky spot. No lawyer wants the "Hi, will you negotiate a free deal for me?" call, since they make nothing off of it (unless you have a good working relationship already). You're gonna have to ask the producer the contract question straight up and see what they say - contracts come from the producer, not you.
        https://twitter.com/DavidCoggeshall
        http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1548597/

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        • #5
          Re: Rewriting Someone Else's Script - Work For Hire Agreement?

          "An oral agreement isn't worth the paper it's printed on."

          Whether the script ends up actually getting produced or not, it's going to come down to a matter of he said/she said. I don't see this as ending well.

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